The Oracle's Fate
by Icarus Aurora
Summary: The Oracle power is slipping as the Forces of Gaia rise. Demigods appear but will reveal nothing. This is my own side story fitting in with Rick Riordan's books.
1. Chapter 1

**So the first chapter, And if you criticise make Constructive criticism so tell me how to improve it.**

The sun was setting over the hills as he came up the road. It cast an orange glow across the campsite and casting long shadows along the ground. It was ordinary Camp Half-Blood. As ordinary as it could get. The cabins stood, almost glowing in the evening light, in the shape of a Ω. The sky-blue Big House was still situated near the Volleyball Courts, no-one wanted to knock it down despite the fact it didn't hold the Oracle anymore. The light reflected off the canoe lake, which didn't have a ripple on it. The Climbing wall wasn't shaking and didn't have lava running down it. The place was calm, which was weird.

The boy walked through the gate and passed Thalia's Tree. He was tall and lean with light skin. His brown coloured hair stuck up and refused to settle down. He smiled, his dark eyes showed no other emotion than happiness at returning to the friendly place. His navy-blue cargos trousers were slightly ripped around the cuffs (that is the bottom if you do not know) his plain white t-shirt wasn't dirty but just had the look that it hadn't been washed recently. Thomas Wybie's appearance didn't concern him right now though. He was back at camp.

Tom continued on his way to the cabins. He was not, considering the time, in time for dinner, so going to the cabins to set up his stuff was the next best thing. He walked on, noticing that there were not that many campers at dinner. _Early_ He thought. There were more than a hundred and fifty campers coming here, now the war had finished and the gods were claiming all the time, and he could see about fifty. Tom went up to the pink door and opened it slowly. He went in cautiously, but there was no one there. Tom exhaled slowly; no one had spontaneously tried to hug him as soon as he came through the door, which was a relief. He knew that everyone here had ADHD but he wished they wouldn't hit the ceiling as soon as they saw a friend.

Tom chucked his backpack down and jumped onto his bed. He reached down, unzipped his backpack, and pulled out a portable easel. He reached down again and pulled out a sheet of paper. Tom looked at it and sighed. It was a painting of his friend Maurice Phillipe. Grimacing, Tom pulled a brush and some pots out; he had seen a minuscule error on the painting. Tom looked to the wall on his left and smiled. Paintings littered the wall, sometimes overlapping, with photos of him and his dad. On the whole, Tom thought he'd done rather well.

* * *

><p>The storm rumbled. Darkness encased the entire city; lighting flashed, the wind howled, rain smashed down from the sky. Few people trudged along the pavements, in as waterproof clothing as they had, car headlights were small dots of light in the darkness. The weather had closed in on the entire city. The rain trickled down windows, overflowed gutters and created black rivers from all the rubbish. Just typical on the start of the summer holidays. The only person not wearing any waterproof clothing was a fourteen-year-old boy standing on top of a skyscraper.<p>

Peter looked on. He didn't mind getting wet, so what was the point of staying dry? His T-shirt and jogging bottom were soaked through; clinging to his strong and athletic form. His dark blonde-brown hair flattened by the rain, he stood over-looking the mighty city that was New York, his half-blue, half-green eyes taking in everything.

_Lovely weather isn't it? _Peter looked to his right, no emotion coming to his face.

'Brilliant, but not a day for flying,' Peter responded calmly, turning back towards the city 'Why are you up here then?'

_Thought I'd come and see a friend but it's seems like he's not in a talking mood,_ said the Voice. Peter cracked a smile but it was quickly wiped away by a thought.

'Only because you don't reject me, there are few who don't. I left those who did to save them,'

_There is another Peter_

'Yeah but I'm not the most sociable person in the world. Besides if she rejected me that would be a violation of her job'

_True_

'Remember, I don't exist,'

They stood in silence as the rain poured down. Lighting struck a tree in Central Park and it caught fire but was almost immediately doused by the rain.

_Where will you go?_

Peter paused. Home, had always been an issue for him. 'Camp Half-Blood,' he said slowly.

_That place rejects you as well you know._

'I know,'

_You have no place to call home do you?_

Peter inhaled slowly 'No, I don't,'

_Then I wish you good luck and perhaps we can meet again in better times then._

'Yeah, same here man,' Peter fell forwards, slowly, holding out his arms, off the edge of the skyscraper.

* * *

><p>Tom sifted through his bag. He'd put it in here, he was sure of that. His hand slid to the bottom of the backpack and groped around. He finally managed to close his hand around the disc around the bottom. He pulled it out and inspected it closely. It was a small silver circle about 2 inches in diameter and half an inch thick. The door creaked open.<p>

A girl moved into the room and immediately chucked herself down on her bunk. She was about to close her eyes when she caught sight of Tom sitting there.

'When did you get here?' she demanded sitting up on her bed, pushing her chocolate brown hair out of her eyes.

'Nice to see you too Amelia,' Tom said, rolling his eyes. Amelia almost grinned.

'Nice to see you Tom, so how was your time at your Dad's? I heard he didn't allow you to take part in the war,' she asked flopping down on her bed again.

'It was alright actually, a couple Dracaenae came after me but I managed to lure them into the streets and allowed one of my mortal friends to kill them.' He said showing his right arm 'Got a new scar though, as soon as we got into the street we didn't have a plan so just attacked them.'

'You never think ahead. Try and be competent when we have a new head counselor,' she sighed 'What's in the hand?'

Tom smiled as he reveled in his newest creation. 'Just an idea I thought might be useful in a tight situation, but the "weapon" is inside the disc. It is a beautiful…. masterpiece,'


	2. Chapter 2

**So the second chapter. Once again, if you criticise make it Constructive Criticism so tell me how to improve.**

**Thanks to everyone for submitting an Oc. I have limited imagination when it comes to making characters.**

**Also if your reading this read the story first and then the reviews. Otherwise the reviews spoil it**

There was a knock at the door. Tom looked up from his easel. There, poking his head round the door, was Matt. Matthew Ross was the basic Hermes kids, couldn't resist playing a prank on someone, and if you get too close, couldn't resist picking your pocket. He flicked his brown hair out his starling bright blue eyes. You light up pitch-black with just his eyes. Tom supposed it gave good night vision, to pilfer, prank or pocket.

Matt motioned his head back outside and he disappeared through the door. Tom grumbled as he got up. Couldn't he just come in? Although he admitted that would look pretty suspicious.

Matt was leaning against the wall near the window when Tom came out slowly. You could never truly trust any of the Hermes cabin. They can be trusted in times of crisis to be a bit serious, but other than that, you could trust them as far as you could throw them, and the entire cabin.

'You good Tom?' he asked as he chucked a can towards him. Matt wore the basic orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt and jeans. He kicked a small crate along the ground towards him. Tom looked at the can in his hand. Coke! Okay, if you paid them enough you could trust them.

'I'm alright,' He said leaning against the opposite pillar. 'How's it going with you and Khris?'

'It's– Hey! How did you know about that?'

Tom grinned. 'Thanks for the coke,' He reached down and picked up the crate. 'Is there any…,' Tom left the question hanging. Every Hermes kid knew that question.

'Ares cabin, have you got spare earplugs?'

Tom nodded. He re-entered the cabin and dropped the crate on the floor. It got the effect he wanted as Amelia jerked awake.

'Huh… wassa going on?' she said groggily as her eyes drifted open.

'Earplugs,'

'Oh bugger, what Cabin?' she reached and fumbled open her bedside drawer.

'Ares,'

'Suppose it's not as bad as annoying Hecate's Cabin,' she put her earplugs in and turned over. Tom did the same and slowly, drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p>'Shut up!' Matt whispered urgently. He was leaning against a brick red wall. Three other Hermes boys were standing next to him, trying not to snigger or laugh.<p>

'This will have been for nothing if you guys give us away! Right, are you sure that they have them there?'

'I checked in one of their windows and they're there alright, we all get extra budgets after the war and they spend half of it on landmines,' Confirmed a Hermes boy. He was only about 11 and yet he'd taken every characteristic of his dad into his stride.

'Okay who's got the Eris ball?' Another Hermes boy raised his hand. In it was a purple tennis ball, but it had been made by Eris, it literally gave of an aura of trouble. Not bad for an inanimate object.

'Right, on three, I'll open the window and you chuck it in and then…' He grinned. That grin would have been out of place on a crocodile mouth it was that wide. 'Run for it, immediately,'

'What will it do?'

'Let's just say it'll be a long time before the bounciness runs out,' he put his hand on the window catch. 'One… Two… Three!' The window flew open but Matt was already running. The boy holding the ball squeezed it once, threw it through the window and pegged it as well. The last two grabbed the window and relocked it as quick as they could. The next morning, smoke rose out of the Ares cabin.

* * *

><p>'What do mean you need funding for your cabin, we've already handed out the extra salaries, and we've just had a war for heaven's sake! Why do you need more?' Chiron questioned<p>

'Because there has been a war and our interior has been blown up! You call that fair?' shouted one of the Ares campers arguing with Chiron.

'Then why did you waste your money on landmines? And don't forget how late you joined the war. You only have half a day left till all the campers start arriving,'

'We are WAR demigods, what else are we meant to buy other than weapons?'

The never-ending argument was this morning's entertainment. Destiny Rose Maurice was standing in the small group of campers, who were watching the argument, as she looked on.

After 5 minutes of this, she turned and made her way back to her cabin. Pushing open the multi-coloured door, she walked into the cabin.

The walls looked a though they had been hit with several million types of paint, stained glass was used in the windows through which light poured through. The light that filled the room almost seemed tangible and shimmered several different colours. On one wall was a mirror which, if white light hit it, could be used as a looking glass to see the rest of the camp. She glanced towards the mirror. 14 years old, 5 foot 2 and she didn't not care about here appearance, but she wasn't exactly trying to show off to the rest of camp.

Her pure gold hair, not exactly unusual in Camp Half-Blood, fell behind her head and went past her shoulder blades. A little of it went over her right shoulder. Her grey-blue eyes had naturally long eyelashes. She wore a black T-shirt with a massive rose on it overlapping paint splats, navy blue jogging bottoms that fitted comfortably to her slender form and combat shoes. It worried her slightly that she was growing up faster than she had expected but not too much. She was pretty, she knew that, yet nobody noticed her, despite her looks.

She sat down on her bed and leaned against the wall. It was black with multi-coloured hippie signs on it. She wasn't a hippie; she just liked the bed, with a purple lava lamp next to it.

She looked around. It was Friday. Pegasus riding was up first. Destiny chose more inter-cultural than fighting lessons. She did take some fighting lessons, but only in knife combat and martial arts. She heard a knock on the door.

'Come in,' she said.

Khristina Harrison opened the door and walked in. 16 and a year round camper; she was allowed to visit other cabins. Her tall, thin body didn't portray the amount of strength that was in her body, despite the fact she was an Athena kid. Her long hair swayed as she walked which made one or two boys look her way as she walked pass. Like all Athena kids, she had startling grey eyes. She almost wore exactly the same as Matt, camp T-shirt and jeans.

'Heyyy!' she said smiling.

'Khris! It's been so long!' Destiny jumped off her bed and hugged her older friend.

'Woah! Oxygen, need it!' she gasped as her friend crushed her rib cage. Destiny stepped back smiling.

'Just come to say high and see how you were seeing as I heard you defended the camp,'

'I'm good, no monster attacks, weird, so just plain really. Kinda boring in a way. I did talk my day but my dad is just on hyperactive when it comes to his art. He hardly has any time for his kids any more, Mortal or otherwise,' she said bitterly

Khris gave a sympathetic smile. 'Well at least–,' her watch buzzed. 'Come on, First period,' She walked out of the open door.

Destiny raised an eyebrow. Obviously something was going on there. Still, this was Camp Half-Blood. Thing couldn't stay calm for long.

**I might have said this before but I am on a 2-week's work experience so updating might be slow.**


	3. Chapter 3

**So Chapter three. I hope that my style isn't deteriorating. I also hope people reading this or following this are getting bored. Any plot ideas you have just PM me.**

**This chapter is a bit longer because it has a lot of description and I thought you guys would like something like this.**

The horn sounded twice from the arena. Every demigod of 14 was walking towards the arena, full of anticipation. Some chatted as they walked, others planning strategies and some, just walked in silence. This was one of the best activities all week. This was the activity to prove yourself in; it was one of the things in the camp that made you cool. Powers Training.

Weapons weren't allowed into the arena, but armour was. Demigods were picking up armour off the racks and fitting it on, the atmosphere was one of war, not of a fun game where it was to simply test out Powers.

The crowd of demigods finally assembled around Chiron. Everyone was varied, some had no armour, and others were covered in it. Chiron called the group to attention.

'This time there will be two teams,' shouted Chiron loudly and slowly so nobody's attention wavered. 'One shall have a person they must protect. The other shall have to hunt down this person. We will be playing in the forest, so the team with the Hunted shall have a 15 minutes head start,'

'What's the bet they choose someone who hasn't got any proper powers, they won't be able to defend, let alone fight,' grumbled an Athena demigod as Chiron randomly selected the teams. Tom smiled to himself. He didn't have this problem despite the fact he was an Aphrodite demigod. Aphrodite stood for beauty, not just human beauty. He took his powers from the beauty of art. It would also explain why he was carrying five scrolls under his arm.

Destiny moved to the right. She wore no amour and carried a small staff. It, technically speaking, was not classed as a weapon as those who could not even block staff blows were deemed unfit for combat. She was determined to win this one. Her light powers had not been up to much a year ago but she had felt it, the power was just there on the edge, it was so close to being used, but she couldn't quite tap into it. It infuriated her. Everyone else tested out their powers beforehand, she might not even be able to use them.

Madison Han stood at the very back of the second group. She had been picked first because Chiron had seen her first as, being shorter than most people at just 5ft, she had moved to the front of the crowd. Other than the height issue, she had no problem seeing. Her dark brown hair never went in front of her face and she never had any bangs. This allowed her dark blue eyes to see and be seen all the time. She wore no armour so was free to move in her jeans and tank top that fitted to her slender body.

She spotted a tall handsome boy, who wore no armour, leaning against the arena wall. In spite of herself, she almost blushed. She walked over to him.

'Hey,' she said. She had never seen him before so once the awkward introductions were over at least she could make friends with him.

'Hi,'

'And you are?'

'Thomas Wybie, but call me Tom. And you?' he asked running a hand through his brown hair which didn't do anything as it was already stuck up. He inspected her. Was she trying to show off or was she a fitness freak, he couldn't decide.

'Madison Han, but call me Mads,' she replied.

'Cabin?'

'Demeter. You?'

'Aphrodite,'

'So why aren't you at the back then?'

Tom chuckled. 'Because I'm not your stereotypical Aphrodite kid,' he replied.

Madison raised eyebrows at this. This was the first Aphrodite child she had seen who was ready to fight and who was confident of their powers.

'So what makes you so different from the other Aphrodite kids then?' she asked crossing her arms.

'What makes me different is that I don't limit myself to human beauty,'

Before she could ask her next question another girl with gold hair came up and tapped Tom on the shoulder.

'Hey Tom, whose turn is it to look after the Pegasus next week?' she asked.

Shocked, Madison stood still. She been talking to this boy and then another girl had come out of no-where and had instantly shoved her out of the conversation, and put her herself in. Completely oblivious to her the girl continued.

'So what ones you using today?' she asked nodding towards the scrolls.

'2 animal, 2 weapon and 1 device,' The boy had just forgotten about her!

'Hey,' Madison said loudly, glowering at the girl 'Who are you?'

The girl looked at her and shot a questioning look at Tom who shrugged his shoulders. The girl suddenly smiled.

'Hey, sorry for butting you out of the conversation,' She stuck out a hand 'Destiny Maurice,'

This wasn't the reaction she'd expected. She'd expected the girl to become defensive or defend Tom to the death as if he was her boyfriend. _Possible but don't judge straight away_ she thought. She quickly smiled to hide her surprise.

'Madison Han,' she shook her hand. 'Cabin?'

'Iris. You?'

'Demeter,' she looked around. They would be leaving soon 'So how do you know Tom?'

Destiny shrugged. 'The Aphrodite and Iris cabins have some of the best Pegasus riders so we share the jobs of looking after the Pegasus,'

'Oh,' she was alright actually. Destiny's Looks could just about rival the Aphrodite cabin, which was impressive, and caused a small bubble of jealousy to appear in her stomach, she ignored it.

'So are we going to team up or do I have to force you to join me?' said Madison crossing her arms in front of her chest.

'I'll go with that,' said Tom inclining his head.

'Only if you need the help,' said Destiny grinning.

'We'll see, but if you guys slow me down then I'll leave you behind,'

'We'll see,' said Tom.

Chiron came over. He had chosen the other team to have the Hunted so they were hunting. There were 15 people on each team as more or less everyone was at camp now.

'The other team shall leave in 5 minutes. You, will leave 15 minutes after them. The team th–,' Chiron wobbled and almost fell over as if he was drunk. A Hypnos kid who was dozing against a side of the arena also fell over, but it was in shock not drunkenness.

'Woahhhh, Dude!' He said lying on floor, clutching his head. _Ok… definite hippie _was the collective though of everyone there. Yet something that made him wake up was worth noting. 'What was that?'

The group looked at Chiron. He was also clutching his head with one hand.

'That was a wakeup call if ever I've had one,' he muttered. He looked around at the group.

'For those of you who are concerned, I'm fine,' he said smiling Thank you for your concern and the game will continue but I will not be there to supervise it,' In the group, excited whispers broke out.

'However,' He continued, his smile turning into a frown. 'I will insure that Argus will be watching over you so nothing happens,' There were a few curses but most knew Chiron well enough.

5 Minutes later the first group left. Now it was on. Chiron left and was replaced by Argus. Plans of sneaking ahead were gone so an Athena child called a meeting.

'They're already in the forest so they've chosen one of two options. They've either made a stronghold and are going to fight us from one spot unmoving, or they'll be in small groups which have spread out and will be swapping the Hunted so we can't keep up with her or him. The only consolation is that they'll have cleared the path of monsters, so if you run into monsters you're probably going the wrong way,' she drew a small map of the forest on the arena floor. It wasn't very detailed, no map of the forest was. Hardly anyone had explored the entire of it.

'So we just have to find a path that doesn't have monster in it?' asked Destiny.

'Technically speaking, Yes. Although there are going to have scouts that's define,'

'How can you be so sure?' asked an Apollo girl.

'Because they'd want to know everything they can about our attack force. How big our main force is, how many scouts we've sent, how many people we sent to attack from the side, everything they know could increase their chances of winning,'

'So what do you suggest?' questioned Tom.

The Athena child looked down at the small map she had drawn on the floor of the arena.

'Guerrilla tactics,' she said simply. 'So, who here has the best Powers for this then?' she looked around at the group.

'I'll go,' said Madison. The Athena girl was not going to take full control if she had any say in the matter.

'Count me in,' the Hypnos kid had been given Ambrosia and had sprung up quite quickly.

'If he's going,' said a Morpheus girl, jerking a thumb towards the Hypnos boy. 'Then I'm going as well as a precaution,'

'How long have we got till we set off,' asked Tom. The Athena girl checked her watch.

'5 minutes. Right, what you guys have to do is take out all the scouts one by one. Do it as quickly as possible otherwise the enemy will become suspicious of what happened to their scouts. As soon as you've taken out all the scouts, then it's time for us to open our box of extras,' she finished looking meaningfully at Tom. He nodded. He would cause the distraction, he knew that, but he wouldn't be able to fight for about 2 minutes. Still, it's better than being in the main force.

Argus came over and gave them the thumbs-up. Tom started laying out some scrolls but Madison, the Hypnos boy and Morpheus girl ran out of the main and entered the forest.

* * *

><p>It was dark in the Big House. Only the rays of light from a window penetrated the darkness.<p>

'So you came then,'

'Did you expect anything less?'

'No, I suppose not,' sighed Chiron.

'Where else could I go? I give off a massive scent and you know that,' The light from the window threw his face into sharp relief. Peter stood there; his white T-shirt partly shredded showing parts of his chest and stomach, long gashes down his black jogging bottoms and an open wound down the side of his right cheek. Blood was still trickling out from it. He'd been through a war and was ready for more.

'You're putting the camp at risk, once–,'

'My scent won't change so the risk your camp will be in the future will be exactly the same as it is now,' Peter interrupted.

'Are you sure about that?'

'Absolutely, may I vacate the barn at 10 o'clock?'

'Seems about right, you need to get up before 7:30 though,'

'To which a will go into the attic, I know the drill Chiron, besides I'm a demigod and your stupid ancient laws say that you have to facilitate me. I could have gone to Camp Jupiter but usually there's hardly anyone there with senior authority,'

'It's a shame you are who you are, otherwise I'd stop worrying about what you are and enjoy your company,' Chiron contemplated.

'Same here Chiron, but things never turn out the way we want them to otherwise life would be easy,'

'And you wouldn't have been born, no offence meant,' Chiron added quickly.

'I'll forget I heard that then. Only because it's true,'

* * *

><p>The forest canopy blocked out most of the afternoon light, bugs slowly crawled up tree trunks, crickets buzzed. Then Madison crashed through the path. Being chased by a child of Zelus was not good. Damn! This was meant to be a stealth mission and Kimi, the child of Morpheus, chucks her out into the open as a distraction. Why couldn't they use her plan? It took longer Madison admitted that, but at least it was actually stealthy.<p>

_βαθύϛ ύττνοϛ _someone whispered. The boy chasing Madison slowed down, his arm reaching out to grab her dropped to his side. His foot caught on a root and he fell, flat on his face, sleeping.

'Not bad,' Daniel climbed out the bush he had hidden himself in. He shook his head making his wavy black hair go everywhere, muttering to himself 'Gotta stay alert,'

'Were you in on this plan?' she demanded, grabbing the unconscious demigod by the scruff of the neck.

'Well Kimi said she might do it, so when I'd dragged the last one to the edge of the forest I just waited,' He shrugged. 'Your tactic was taking too much time so we just went with that one. Hey that was the only time we used it!' he said after Madison shot him a death glare. Beforehand she'd manipulated the plants around each of the scouts to bind them so while they were fighting off the plants they wouldn't notice they were being put to sleep by Kimi and Daniel. Ok, that was the last one, so she could forgive them.

Kimi jogged down the path, her caramel hair swaying behind her and going all over the place. She stopped pushed the hair out of her face to reveal her oriental hazel eyes.

'Was that the last one?' she asked looking from Madison, who was deliberately not looking at her, to Daniel who nodded.

'C'mon, lets report back,' He grabbed the unconscious demigod's legs and they hurried out of the forest.

'So how long can you control them for?' asked Ellen. She had put her dark brown into a ponytail and was looking at the map.

'About 2 minutes, and that's to make it register who's friend and foe and where it's has to go,' answered Tom. They were looking down at a painting that was 5ft in length and 3ft in height. A painting of a wolf. The daughter of Hecate crossed her arms across her chest. Her short brown hair fell down either side of her head with it partly going across to one side of her face, covering half an eyebrow but leaving her eyes uncovered. None of it went past her shoulders.

'What if I channel some of my energy through you so you could control them for longer, or so that you won't use up as much energy, sound good?'

'Won't that be a spell though?'

Ellen sighed. 'No, look everything runs off – oh forget it it'd take too long to explain. Look, do want to share the burden or take it on yourself leaving me free?'

Tom pondered this. If he shared it he wouldn't be as tired out, but if he took it on his own Ellen would be able to do more magic.

'I'll do it myself, and then I'll just sit back and watch,'

The thumping of shoes announced the arrival of their scouts. The Athena girl jumped to her feet. They ran up to her.

'All scouts taken out, we put them on the edge of the forest just in case any monsters ran into them,' panted Madison.

'Any idea whether they're in groups or all together in a base?' questioned the Athena kid.

'There were six scouts which leaves 9 of them left. That suggests that their altogether somewhere,' answered Daniel.

'So Tactician Girl, what now?' asked Kimi.

'Now it's time let loose our diversion,' she said nodding towards Tom.

Tom knelt down beside the picture. Putting his hands on edge the wolf's snout, Tom closed his eyes. Concentrating on the energy within him, Tom pinched the paint on the picture and pulled. Those watching didn't know how to describe what happened next. Paint flew off the page, breaking its mould and curving around one spot. As everyone looked at it from different angles, the outline paint curved into the shape of what it once was. The grey paint of the fur flew into the outlines and collected. It was then when the beast seemed to have a physical presence. The last of the paint flew in. It was fully formed, a real live animal. The wolf opened its eyes.

Tom got up, panting slightly.

'Wolf, all you see here, friends. Go into forest and attack anything that isn't those who you see here,' he finished.

The wolf looked up at him. Blinked once, and ran into the forest.

'Is that really the only way you can talk to it?' Ellen asked.

'Hey, it works, so don't judge it,' said Tom kneeling down next to the second picture.

Once the second wolf had run off into the forest, Tom, breathing slowly, nodded at the group and then sat down on one of the side benches.

The group formed up into a Scouting formation and ran out of the gate.

'Are you ok?' Madison asked Destiny as they ran along. Destiny face flickered with doubt.

'Just thinking about my Powers, I still need to learn how to use them,' she said looking at her shoes.

'Come on. You'll do fine,' _I hope_ she thought. They pounded on through the forest. Trees sped past and Destiny saw others running and jumping through the forest.

Madison put her hand up. There, about 25ft in front of them, stood the target's group. Many of them were slightly out of breath and, at their feet, lay two wolves, unmoving.

'Spread out, they could be anywhere,' shouted one of them. They started moving outwards forming a circle. Destiny looked to her right. The Athena girl nodded to everyone in the group and put up three fingers. One dropped. Then another. Then the last one

The very forest shook. To say someone had opened a box of fireworks would be the right expression, but it would be an understatement. The glade they were in darkened as fear spread. 2 defenders instantly fell asleep as Kimi and Daniel went forth. Another fully armoured defender went down as his armour grew too heavy for him, Madison looked right to see a tired but smug Hephaestus holding out a closed fist.

The defenders were staring to shake off their shock though. A Hecate child shot a blast of black lightning from her hands sending an Ares child flying into a tree as it hit him in the chest, thanking only damaging his armour. A Hermes child managed to teleport behind a Persephone boy and pull him into submission.

Closing her eyes, Destiny summoned on the power inside her. It was there, she could access it freely! Opening her eyes, she brought the energy forth, seeing the end of her staff glow. A ball of light appeared at the tip, shining a brilliant white, penetrating the darkness of the glade. Great, she had it. What now? Her confidence was quickly replaced by panic as she realised how little control she had. The light was growing brighter. No! She had the Power but what now? There wasn't any instruction manual that came with it and nobody could teach her.

By now the defenders had noticed it and one ran to stop her. Madison spotted them though.

_καλλιεργούν φυτά _she shouted. Vines grew quickly around their feet making the defender fall over in their haste. Destiny was still in panic though. The light was still growing. She looked around frantically for help. Then, as if someone had pulled a trigger, the light exploded, giving off a blastwave that was felt by all in the glade. Destiny slammed backwards into a tree hitting her head. It slowly all went black.

**Man, that was long. I need a break. I was just trying to get the entire battle in one chapter. **

**All unnamed Characters e.g. "The Athena girl" if you can put in an Oc for those people I'll be grateful to you and try to update some more.**

**I will not be doing another chapter as long as that again soon. But I am trying to increase the amount of pages it is in Microsoft word from 3 to 4. This story was 8 pages! **

**Ah! Break Needed! Still got another week left of pain before I can properly write again**


	4. Chapter 4

**So the Fourth Chapter. Thanks everyone who has reviewed my story and everyone who has sent an Oc. If you think my writing is deteriorating then please tell me. **

**Gotta stop listening to music while writing. Stops me from concentrating.**

**And those of you who say your surprised how big a part your Oc has, don't be. I'm trying to include everyone and I only have 1 Oc myself. Guess which one it is**

Destiny jerked awake. She lay in her bed breathing heavily, covered in cold sweat. She had had a fitful sleep. Why hadn't she been able to get control of her powers? Everyone else had. She turned over and tried to fall back asleep. She writhed and squirmed but sleep was beyond her. She looked the Sun dial in the middle of the room. The only reason they had it was because it used light to work. 6.00AM. The camp wouldn't be awake for another hour and a half. She got up, a walk down to the Pegasus stables would free up her mind. Dressing quietly, she tip-toed out of the front door, shut it quietly, and walked down to the stables.

They'd won; Madison had told her after they brought her round. Great. She didn't feel like she'd won though. She scolded herself for being too optimistic. She needed to practice. But who would teach her though? Nobody else had her Powers. How'd Madison and Tom learnt theirs? She was on her own with no-one to help her.

She reached the stables. She pulled out the key for the doors from her pocket. There was no lock. She looked around, it was on the floor, unclipped and already unlocked.

She opened the barn door slowly, cursing the hinges of the barn in every language she knew. It was dark inside the barn as all the Pegasi (is it Pegasi? Surely it can't be Pegasuses?) had the windows overnight so they could sleep. The barn was almost like an enlarged corridor. There was a path to walk down the middle and pens for the Pegasi on either side. At the end of the path stood the mountain of hay, fully stocked. Destiny walked down the aisle to a window and opened it. Light flooded into the stables but none of the Pegasi awakened. It illuminated the all of the wooden beams holding up the barn, and the rafters holding several birds' nests became visible. She looked into one of the pens. The Pegasus lay, sleeping and unmoving. Weird. They should have at least woken up from the light. She looked around the entire stable, but her eyes came to rest on the massive stack of hay.

Someone was sleeping there.

Destiny blinked, hard. It was a boy; he had quite short, about 1 cm long, brown wavy hair, or was it blonde? It changed when the light hit it. He wore black jogging bottoms and a white t-shirt, both of which had long gashes in them. She walked up to him. His face wasn't thin or pudgy, in fact, his face was quite sculpted. His cheek-bones were pronounced and he had no excess fat. Across his left cheek was a streak of mud, while his hair was all over the place and had some small twigs and leaves in it. He looked quite…rugged. She spotted a cut across his right cheek, and then noticed that there were a few wounds over his body.

Frowning slightly, Destiny got up and walked to the left of the aisle. There was a first aid box for any of the Pegasi in case they somehow got injured. Pegasi could have the same wounds as demigods, couldn't they? Surely there were at least some bandages in it. There were. First aid was a basic part of camp really. Sure, the Apollo kids were the great at healing, but everyone had to learn some first aid right?

Destiny knelt down beside him. She pulled up the right sleeve of his T-shirt over his shoulder. She almost hissed at the sight of the wound. From the looks of it a spear point had hit his shoulder. The wound had already filled up with pus and the skin was starting to pull itself back together so it could heal. Destiny grimaced as she picked the hardened pus out of the wound. Moving his arm so that the ripped skin would be touching, Destiny bandaged the entire shoulder. Tying off the bandage, she moved to his legs. Pulling out another bandage, she wrapped it once around his knee and wrapped the rest above and below it so he wouldn't lose movement. The boy shifted slightly.

Looking him up and down, Destiny got up and knelt next the boy's head. She smiled. He looked so peaceful just lying there. Leaning over him slightly, she reached out, putting a finger on the beginning of the cut on his cheek. What was she doing? It was as if her own body had taken control of her actions. Her finger touched the boy's cheek. A drop of blood tickled onto her finger. A hand grasped her wrist.

The boy's eyes opened slowly. Her greyish blue eyes stared directly into half-blue, half-green eyes. It was unnerving. They studied her. Suddenly, his right hand hit her in the side of the head.

* * *

><p>Destiny woke up in her bed. She looked around. Everybody else had already gone. Turning over she looked at the Sun dial. 8.00 AM. Man, she was meant to be up half an hour ago. She noticed her hands were on the top of the duvet. On her right hand, the drop of blood was there. She remembered. Was it a dream? She licked the finger, tasting the blood.<p>

No.

Definitely real.

* * *

><p>Dawn was breaking over the horizon. Not a single cloud passed over camp half-blood boarders. The sky was a haze-grey. Tom sat on a bench in the Arena, humming himself. Archery targets had been set up by the cleaning harpies. He looked at his watch. 7.00AM. The rest of them camp would still be asleep. He yawned and leaned back against the arena wall. He wasn't really an early riser but he been woken by his dream.<p>

* * *

><p>He was standing in a room. He looked around; it was a bare underground cavern. Darkness encased the room. The only thing in the room was a single, bronze, three-legged, high chair. Suddenly the ground split.<p>

Tom didn't move. It was a dream. It couldn't hurt him. Could it?

Fumes rose out of the crack. Then a voice came, screaming.

_No! You can't come back. You were banished beyond death! Who is responsible for bringing you back? Tell me!_

A huge scaly claw forced it way out of the crack and latched onto the floor.

_No! _The voice screamed. Tom saw the muscles in the claw tense as the thing tried to pull itself out of the crack.

_NO!_

* * *

><p>He sat their remembering the scream of the girl. It was a girl's scream he was sure of that but what was that dream about? it hurt his head just thinking about it.

Chiron cantered into the arena. Standing at the entrance, he examined the archery range his eyes finally coming to rest on Tom.

'We that keen are we Tom?' he chuckled as walked up to him. He seemed older than when Tom had seen him last. Ok, he was immortal, so age doesn't really matter. But he looked strained, as if something bad was going to happen.

'I–I'm fine Tom,' he said smiling after a look from Tom. It was a forced smile. If something worried Chiron then it was something that needed to be dealt with, even if he told you not to.

'Ok Chiron,' said Tom crossing his arms 'What's up?'

Chiron stared at him critically, as if he was weighing up whether to tell him or not. At last he sighed.

'The Oracle fell sick last night and isn't getting any better,' He looked away, over the arena walls 'Apollo's been round and found out nothing wrong with her. We even asked Asclepius to have a look at her but he's found nothing as well,'

'Good start for the Oracle… how long have we had her? 4 days? And who's Asclepius?' asked Tom.

Chiron grinned at him. 'The Actual God of medicine and healing, I taught him myself actually,' He said rather proudly. 'But then he outclassed me by far and became a god. He apparently died when Zeus hit him with the master bolt but he slowly came back, healing himself. Most people think Apollo is a god of healing but Asclepius is THE god of healing and medicine. He can't fade because the mortals named a lot of stuff after his family,'

Tom raised his eyebrows at this. This god was impressive by all accounts, so why hadn't he heard of him?

'The rod of Asclepius is the actual sign of medicine but the mortals mistook it for the Caduceus,' Chiron said as if he was reading his mind. 'That's why you probably haven't heard of him,'

Tom nodded. 'So do we know why our Oracle is dying then?'

Chiron didn't answer for about a minute. Then 'We believe her power is being drained, but how, we do not know,'

'Is there anything we can do?'

'Do you want the simple answer or the complicated one?'

Tom checked his watch. 'We've got time so I'll take the complicated one,'

'At the minute, No. We might have to send someone on a quest though,' He looked sideways at Tom raising an eyebrow. 'You up to it?'

Tom smiled 'What do you think?' he asked.

'I think you're ready and if you're not, then you shouldn't have asked me what this was all about. At the end of the day you can go and see the Oracle, Rachel Elizabeth Dare,'

And there it was. Now he knew. It was her, the girl who screamed.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

**If you guys are going to ask what was with the licking up of the blood, please don't. I know it's slightly weird but hey, go with the flow man.**

**Argh gotta think of different and exotic powers!**

**Thanks please review.**


	5. Chapter 5

**So The Fifth Chapter.**

**Man I'm taking a break after this chapter. Work experience took its toll on me.**

**Over 350 hits. Are you guys that interested in my story?**

**And if you're going to make an Oc, think of someone else OTHER than the Ares cabin to put down in enemies! I just got another Oc form with that in and it's really starting to tick me off!**

**And I think this is a good Oc story so far**

The sun beat down over Camp Half-Blood. The wind that usually blew through the camp had disappeared without a trace, and the lava on the climbing wall was banned until further notice – the campers who had turned it on had fainted. Everyone had retreated into the shade of their cabins, throwing the windows open in hope of the smallest wind coming in. Lunch was held inside the mess hall as the food that was provided cooked in the outside heat – literally.

Demigods and Satyrs alike burned most of their lunch in hope of pleasing the wind gods but nothing happened. With most of their lunch gone they went back inside trying to escape the heat. Chiron was merciless though.

The horn sounded once from the arena. Combat Training. Madison closed the door on her secret compartment next her bed and got up. Stuffing the milk chocolate wrappers in her pocket she opened the door and stepped outside. Walking past the cabins, she spotted Destiny coming out of hers. She ran over to her. Destiny didn't seem to notice her and looked at her feet while she walked.

'Destiny… You awake?' said Madison right next to her ear.

She seemed to come out a trance. 'Uh? What? Someone call me?' her head jerked up and swivelled around finally noticing Madison. 'Oh, hi Mads,' Her head drooped back down, her hair covering her eyes.

'Come on, What's up?' Destiny looked at her. 'And don't give me "Nothing" Something's up and I know it,' Madison, crossing her arms, turned to face Destiny.

Destiny looked up at her, flicking her hair out of her eyes. She sighed, her hair swaying back in front of her face. 'It was just a dream I had. Nothing big, it just… just made me think,'

'What was the dream about?'

Destiny shook her head. 'Just drop it, okay? It was just a dream,'

'Come on, what was it about?' asked Madison. Destiny looked at her pleadingly but Madison kept standing and staring. Destiny dropped her head again, her hair coving her face.

'It was just a dream,' she whispered.

'About?'

'A boy,' she whispered again.

'Oh,' Madison realised how persistent and possibly rude she'd been poking into someone else's thoughts and feelings. 'Sorry Destiny, but is there anything you want to tell me?'

Destiny shook her head, her golden hair swaying back and forth, and continued to walk towards the arena. Madison didn't say anything else on the way.

Walking through the arena gates they joined the group of demigods that were already there putting on armour. Both Destiny and Madison opted for none.

Then came the weapon choosing. With the gods taking more notice of their children more often, transforming weapons became more common. Only one or two in the entire camp actually had a magical weapon.

Madison took off her necklace and held it in the palm of her hand. Slowly, it thickened, the beads being swallowed up, the string splitting into several strands, until in her hand, Madison held a 10ft long, coiled up, whip. Destiny however, just reached down a pulled a Celestial Bronze dagger from underneath her leg and strapped a staff, that was almost as big as her, to her back. She looked around.

The arena had been filled with barricades, small earth hills and walls. She couldn't see all of it, for most of it blocked her view, but she guessed that it would be a battlefield scenario.

'The teams from yesterday will be used today!' shouted Chiron right next to Destiny causing her to jump. 'Those who hunted will be on the other side of the arena, while those who were being hunted will be where we are standing. The aim of the match is to find as many Golden apples. And they aren't the actual golden apples created by Eris or the golden apples of Immortality' Chiron said, rolling his eyes 'The match starts in 10 minutes.

Their group set off. They walked passed many walls giving the impression that they were in a maze. They found the centre when they came into an open space with one small hill in the middle. The clearing was about 25ft in radius.

'Most of the apples will be here, a place where the biggest fight is going to happen,' The Athena girl was at the front of the group leading the way. They went through another gap in the circular wall and proceeded towards their base. Small barricades were placed in a half-circle against the back wall of the arena.

'Right, who's attacking and who's defending?' the Athena girl asked sitting down on a barricade. Most of the group started talking amongst themselves. Destiny saw Kimi swing herself over the barricade, a 3ft long sword strapped to her back, An Apollo kid pull his bow off his shoulders and pressed his back against a wall, looking around the corner and a Hephaestus kid shifted a hammer off his back and gave it an experimental swing. Once again, this was war.

Tom kept his sword in his sheath. Standing by one of the openings he waited. He'd made himself as light as possible; no shield, no armour. Someone tapped him on the shoulder.

'Attacking or defending?' He looked straight into the eyes of Madison. He stepped back slightly

'Attacking,' said Tom looking at her critically. She had changed the tank-top and jeans for a tight camp T-shirt and denim short that showed most of her legs. She almost looked like she was trying to catch someone's eye.

'Oh, mind if I come with you?'

Tom shook his head. 'I doubt you'll be able to keep up with me, I'm going light,'

'Okay, Destiny and I will follow you slowly so we've got your back,'

Tom shrugged his shoulders 'If you want to,'

'Right guys, and girls, into position we've got about a minute before the match starts!' The Athena girl shouted to their team. Talk stopped as everyone tensed, apart from a few laid back defenders, listening for the whistle.

It sounded; a high wailing screech penetrating the atmosphere. Tom leapt forwards into the opening while 2 other campers did the same.

Bare blank wall rushed past as Tom ran towards the centre. Jumping over a barricade he noticed a couple of apples fly past his field of vision. He ignored them; those who were going slower would pick them up. He continued making turns until he came to the gap. On the small hill, 10 golden apples stood, sun glinting off their skin. Someone else was already there. The demigod looked up from picking up the apples, dropped the apple he had in one hand and picked up his halberd. All weapons for combat matches were blunt (Transforming weapons had the spray on them) but being hit by one of those was going to hurt.

The other demigod let out a yell and charged. Great, just what he needed the enemy to have, re-enforcements, he needed to shut this guy up before others came to his call. Tom charged forwards running to meet his opponent. The Demigod swung the halberd threating to hit him in the side. Tom threw himself on the floor, rolled sideways, watching the halberd fly over him, and scrambled back onto his feet. The demigod had put too much power into his swing, and strained to pull the halberd back. Tom ran up, kicked the handle out of the demigod's hands and smashed a very blunt blade into the side of the demigod's face. Tom stopped to catch his breath. Putting his sword back in its sheath he turned and jogged to the small hill. He picked up two apples and turned towards the opening. Another enemy demigod stood there. This wasn't good. He could take out another demigod but then he wouldn't be able to run. Abandoning logic, Tom dropped the apples, pulled out his sword and charged.

This demigod though had obviously come prepared for this as he wore no armour but carried a double handed, double-headed, blunt axe. As Tom swung his sword but the axe intercepted, pushing his sword backwards, leaving his guard open. The demigod slammed the handle of the axe into his chest forcing him to crash into the ground. Winded, Tom looked up seeing the demigod standing next to him. The demigod swung, the flat of the axe aimed towards the side of Tom's head. Tom rolled sideway, the flat of the axe just missing him. He got up but stumbled, his legs buckling underneath him. The last hit had been too much, he could hardly run, let alone fight. The Demigod, sensing this, ran up to Tom once again to knock him out.

An arrow came out of thin air hitting the Demigod right in the side of the head. Momentum carrying him, his body fell sideways, sending him crashing into the floor forcing Tom to jump over his sliding body.

'For heaven's sake, get up or I'll drag you along with me!' Tom looked round. There, on the small hill, stood an Apollo archer, his bow drawn. Tom pushed himself up and walked over to him. The Apollo kid jumped down.

'Grab as many apples as you can hold, and this is yours I believe,' he held out a sword. Tom took it gratefully. The boy wore basketball shorts and a plain grey t-shirt. His hair was dark brown and very wavy, his eyes were a deep dark green. Looks like a boring fitness guy thought Tom.

'Come on, let's go,' With an apple in each hand they set off, they walked as Tom couldn't run.

'Thanks for saving me, what's your name?' asked Tom.

'Jay, and the only reason I saved you is that you're on my team, if we were fighting our own battles I might have just left you,'

'Not an easy one to please, are you?'

Jay's eyes had a piercing look to them and Tom felt as though he was read. 'There have been too many betrayals for us to easily trust each other, although you do seem trustworthy. What's your name?'

'Tom, Son of Aphrodite,'

Jay frowned for a second 'Were you the guy who did all that summoning stuff with the pictures?'

Tom nodded.

'Got to admit, that's a pretty cool Power,'

'Thanks, what are yours?'

'Healing and Heat Manipulation,'

'Heat what?'

As a response, he put the apple in his left hand under his right armpit and grabbed Tom's arm as they walked. His hand felt warm on Tom's arm. Then suddenly heat got hotter, making his arm itch. Then it reached pain and the skin burned. Tom jerked his arm away. On it, a red, hand-shaped mark had been burned on.

'Bloody hell, what is your power?' said Tom shaking his arm.

'Heat manipulation, I can control the temperature of any object I touch, from 0°C to 100°C,'

'So you can set your own sword on fire?'

'I suppose so,' Jay said, shrugging. 'I still haven't learnt my limitations yet,'

They turned a corner and crashed into Madison and Destiny. Jay dropped the apples and pulled his bow of his shoulder, aiming an arrow point blank at Madison's forehead. Tom grabbed the bow and forced it down.

'They're on our side Jay, put the bow down,' Jay grudgingly lowered his bow.

'Any trouble Tom?' asked Madison.

'Just a bit, there are quite a lot of apples left,'

'Right, we've ignored most of the nearer apples as the others can get those. Let's go Mads' said Destiny. Jay shifted slightly. She'd come out of her thoughtful silence and had a determined look on her. She wasn't going to fail like in Powers training. She ran off with Madison shouting after her.

'Girls you know?' asked Jay as soon they'd continued walking.

Tom nodded.

'Who are they?'

'The one with the long brown hair is Madison,' Jay nodded.

'And the one with golden hair that went past her shoulder blades?'

'That was Destiny,'

They continued walking. Jay seemed to be pondering something, sometimes shooting glances at Tom but his expression couldn't be read.

'How do you know them?' Jay asked abruptly once they were in sight of their base.

'Oh Madison introduced herself to me when we were doing Powers training,'

'And Destiny?' asked Jay.

'The Aphrodite and Iris cabins have some of the best Pegasi riders so we share the job of looking after the Pegasi,' said Tom, shrugging.

'Oh, Okay,' They walked back to the base. The Athena girl walked up to them.

'Little trouble here, how was it out there?' she asked looking from one to another.

'Oh it was brilliant, no problem whatsoever,' Jay said as he threw his apples into the base

The Athena girl looked shocked. 'Really? I'd of thought–,'

'Of course it bloody wasn't. Are you really that gullible?' interrupted Jay.

* * *

><p>'Who said it was good idea to go on our own, into the middle?' shouted Destiny as she dodged a spear.<p>

'You were the one who went sprinting off, so don't blame anyone else,' Madison shouted back, grabbing a wrist whose hand held a blunt dagger.

They were surrounded by 3 demigods; 1 Ares, I Apollo and 1 Thantos. Destiny was engaged, staff on spear, with the Thantos girl. Madison went whip on knife with the Ares boy but he had the advantage as he had closed the distance, allowing him to strike and not giving enough space to swing her whip. The Apollo child just fired arrows when he could. Destiny blocked the spear to her left with both hands on her staff. Transferring her weight to her left leg she swung her right leg up, using years of martial arts experience, kicked her opponent hard in the chest sending her into the wall. She turned, shoving Madison out of the way, and engaged the Ares boy.

'Take care of the archer,' she said dropping her staff pulling out her own dagger. A yell sounded out behind them and a few more enemy demigods came charging out of the opening. Madison groaned.

'We can't keep this up for much longer now they outnumber us,' she said quickly engaging the Apollo child.

'Found them! Come on!' Madison looked around.

'Tom!' she shouted. Tom stood there with Jay and 3 more campers behind him, weapons drawn.

'Tactics out the windows guys, and girls, Time for a gigantic brawl,' He said grinning. Jay stood next to him, smiling, bow drawn, arrow knocked. They all charged at once crashing into and engaging the 4 enemy Demigods.

* * *

><p>Alone, sitting on top of the big house, someone was watching their fight.<p>

**The spray makes a protective layer over the weapon making it blunt. Can be washed off. Made by Harmonia**

**ChocomadsandIrish sorry for not including thorns on your whip but unfortunately it's no maiming in the arena.**

**And to anyone out there, there is a difference between transforming and magical Weapons!**

**Transforming= sort of rare **

**Magical= VERY very rare**

**Get used to having some rules in a story, not just everyone have Magical weapons here there and everywhere, and everyone being super powerful and being able to take on the world with ease. **

**You need some limits!**

**Man, sorry for raving but sometimes it needs to be done.**


	6. Chapter 6

**So the Sixth Chapter.**

**I don't even know why I have an Oc form anymore, just suppose it goes with the story.**

**And if you guys just want to make a random Oc form and you see an unnamed character in my story you can make one for them.**

The group walked out of the arena. The wind had returned, the sun continued to beat down on their backs and the smell of strawberries wafted over the camp. Demigods had thrown themselves under trees, while Pegasi flew freely in the sky.

'What you got next Des?' Madison asked as they parked themselves under a tree.

'Store checks,' Destiny landed next to Madison under the tree. 'You?'

'Tracking, although I've got it lucky cause I'm with the Ichnaea cabin. What about you Tom?'

'Sort of a free, Javelin throwing,' said Tom.

'How is Javelin throwing, a free?' asked Jay dropping to the floor facing the girls.

'I'm so bad I might impale myself.' Tom said promptly 'What about you Jay?'

'Rapid riding,'

The horn sounded signalling next the next period. The group got up and split beside the river.

Destiny walked alongside the river. The water trickled along slowly, shining a clear blue. Blue. Destiny looked at the Big House. It stood there, the sky-blue paint reflecting the light. In the top, the attic was still being used as a storage room for all the trophies picked up on quests. Something moved in the window. The oracle? No, that was in Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Then what? Destiny looked round. No one would miss her for one period. Especially store checks. Glancing around again Destiny ran to the big house.

The door slid open at the faintest touch, as though it was inviting you to come inside. Destiny tiptoed in. Climbing up three sets of stairs, whilst avoiding Chiron's office, Destiny reached the top floor. Reaching up, she grabbed the string and pulled. The trap-door swung open and the stair slammed down just in front of her making her jump backwards. So much for subtlety she thought as she climbed the stairs to the attic.

Dust hung, suspended in the air. Everything was covered in it. At the very end was a single window through which light tried to penetrate through. She walked up to it. Looking at it the window had been wiped recently. Someone had definitely been here.

'I know you're here,' she said. She turned to look at the entire room. It was quite dark as the light couldn't penetrate past the dust. She stood there, waiting for eyes to grow accustomed to the dark. If only she had control of her powers.

'I know you do,'

Destiny's heartbeat quickened. She'd never heard this voice before so could it be him? Slowly the room came into view, broken armour, parts of monsters, extremely weird swords, but still, no source for the voice.

'I…er …well,.. I didn't mean intrude but..' said Destiny her voice cracking.

'I know you didn't, you just wished to see what was moving in the attic,'

'Look just who are you?' she shouted her fear getting the better of her and venting it out in anger.

The stairs slid up. The trapdoor slammed shut. Destiny looked. The boy got up from pulling up the trapdoor and dusted himself off.

'There's no need to shout you know,' he said while patting his jogging bottoms.

'But what are you doing here?'

'I must stay here out of sight until it night where I can go and find someplace to sleep,' His voice expressionless as if he was simply stating a fact. He moved to his T-shirt.

'And you sleep in the barn,'

The boy looked at her quickly. 'How do you know where I sleep?'

In spite of the situation, Destiny blushed. She clasped her hands behind her back and tried to hide her blush, her hair swinging in front of her eyes.

'I–I was the one who bandaged you yesterday,' she said to the floor.

'Oh,' the boy resumed his patting eventually ruffling his hair. Several leaves and twigs came out of it along with the dust. He leant against a large cardboard box, looking at Destiny.

'Thanks,'

'Huh?' Destiny jerked her head up, her blush disappearing.

The boy smiled slightly, like he'd been told a personal joke. 'I said Thanks. Can't I thank someone who helps me heal?'

'Um, yeah,' Destiny could see that that was normal, but it took him a long time to say thanks. 'Listen, what your name, I'd like to know the person I helped,'

At this the boy looked down. He looked back up, neither angry nor sad but was expressionless.

'Peter,' the boy said. 'Can I know the name of the beautiful girl who saved me?'

Destiny instantly tucked her head to her chest, her hair once again falling in front of her face. The blush returned, only with much greater magnitude.

Destiny muttered something inaudible.

'Sorry, couldn't catch that,' said Peter.

'Do you rea….' Her voice quieting off again.

Peter just stood there, leaning against the box. He knew that she was blushing. He grinned slightly.

'Do you really think I'm beautiful?' she whispered quickly in a very small voice.

'Yeah. You're just trying to deny it. Why shy away from something that's true? I'm only stating the truth,' he said shrugging. 'And you still haven't answered my question,'

'Huh?' she looked up, her golden hair covering the left side of her face.

'What's your name?'

'Destiny,'

Peter nodded and went towards the back of the attic. There, open on the floor, was an A3 sketchbook. Kneeling down, he turned a page, wrote something on the top of the page, and closed the book. Destiny hovered over his shoulder.

'You sketch?' she asked looking over at the front of the book.

'Yep'

'What do you sketch? I've sketched New York and other city places,' she said

'I don't sketch city places, nothing of any interest there, no patterns, just grey road and grey steel buildings and grey concrete,' he said with slight disgust.

'Then what do you sketch?'

Peter grinned as if remembering an old memory. 'Things that remind me of my homeland. Being so far away in an urban environment sometimes puts a damper on your life,' his grin turned into a sad smile 'Things that stop me from remembering about real life,' His face turned expressionless again.

Destiny sat down next to him. 'What about real life?'

'Nothing, forget it. You shouldn't even know that I exist,'

'What?' she asked, shocked. 'But you're a demigod aren't you? Who's your godly parent?'

Peter kept staring at the sketchbook. 'Yes, I am a demigod, but I will not say who my parent is,'

'What? Why not?'

Peter jumped up. 'You shouldn't have met me, why do you think I knocked you out in the barn. I must leave,' He looked down at Destiny 'Do not tell anyone you saw me,' He picked up his sketchbook, pulled open the hatch, jumped down and rolled before the stairs had time to come down.

Destiny sat there, still in slight shock. He'd left. In so much a hurry she didn't even try to stop him. An empty hole suddenly formed inside her. He was gone and it was her fault. A single tear ran down her cheek. He'd talked to her despite knowing that he shouldn't. He'd said he shouldn't have existed. Why? She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, her back pressed up against the box he had leant on.

'Peter,' she whispered. 'Why can't you exist?'

* * *

><p>'Through here Tom,' said Chiron pushing a curtain aside. Tom walked inside.<p>

He'd walked into a cave. But the interior was very different to the exterior. The walls, instead of mud, had been tiled in mosaics, so had the floor. The ceiling had been constructed with a matt black material, not unlike the ceilings you find in clubs. True to his word, Apollo had put snooker table in as well as a as a dance floor. A disco ball hung from the ceiling. There were two there curtains at the back of the room. Through the left one Tom had a glimpse of a tier of chairs. A home Cinema. Tom walked through the right curtain.

It was a small room that was mostly filled by a bed.

Rachel lay there.

When she saw Tom, she closed her eyes. When she opened again they were a serpent green. She spoke in a voice that filled the entire cave:

_Four shall West for the Oracle of Delphi_

_One shall come forth and he will help thee_

_He shall find a path, a Trail_

_You must slay the beast else, you fail_

Tom shivered. The last line almost sound like it was mocking him in slang. He walked out of the cave. Chiron stood there waiting.

'I heard it, don't worry,' he said putting a hand up. 'You'll leave at midnight, use all the time you have now to gather your team and prepare. Nobody will know of your absence,'

'You sure?' asked Tom.

'No. But we'll make something up,'

* * *

><p>'You want us to make these?' The Hephaestus forgers poured over the blueprints that she'd given to them.<p>

'Yeah. Are you saying you can't do it?' challenged Destiny.

'You're not exactly giving us a choice, are you?' said a Hephaestus girl raising her eyebrows.

'With the stake of your reputation on the line here, No, I'm not giving you a choice,' said Destiny grinning. She folded her arms in front of her chest. 'How long will it take you?'

'What do we think boys?' The girl called to the boys. There was a lot of muttering and passing of notes. At last:

'5-6 hours normally, But if we have everyone working on it and if this is for the pride of the cabin then I'd say about 2 hours,' Destiny nodded.

'Just one question,' said the girl as Destiny turned to leave 'Where did you get the blueprints from?'

'They appeared out of thin air,' she said, walking away.

'Humph, if you didn't want to say you didn't have to,'

Destiny walked back to her cabin. They'd been there. When he'd gone she'd sat there for about half an hour. She'd seen them. They must have fallen out of sketchbook when he… Destiny couldn't bring herself to think _fled. _Opening the door to her cabin Destiny glanced at the Sun dial. 6.00PM. Slamming the door behind her, she threw herself down onto her bed. Something rubbed against her back as she writhed. Sitting up she looked where her back had been. There, on her bed, lay a small green package. On the package there was small golden curly writing:

_Use it on the occasion _

The occasion? What's that?

The door creaked open. Tom poked his head around the door.

'Hey, Destiny, wanna go on a quest?' he whispered.

'Who else is coming?' she asked frowning.

'Well if you don't come there's no point us going,' Madison pushed the door open to its full extent. There, stood Jay, Tom and Madison grinning.

Destiny smiled 'When do we leave?'

**Hey, Livelyforever, was that a good depiction of your character?**

**Everyone who is reading this has my thanks. Please review**


	7. Chapter 7

**So The Seventh Chapter.**

**Over 600 hits. Going good **

**Ach! NO! SCHOOL! EXAMS! Can't…. update….as fast…as usual…**

**Slowly running out of things to say up here.**

**Dealing with mild depression at the minute guys, should pass over but I feel as though I should be broken off from all life-forms**

'What about dinner?'

'You can go and have it I'm not stopping you,'

'You make sound like we haven't got any time,' complained Jay as they ran. 'We have 6 hours to prepare, why rush?

'I'm not making you rush I'm only telling you to get ready for midnight,' said Tom. The passed the fountain and slid to a halt. They split and walked in opposite directions. Tom went into the Aphrodite cabin while Jay, the Apollo cabin.

Jay pushed open the golden door of his cabin. He crashed down on his bed, thinking. Sitting up, he grabbed his rucksack and placed it in front of him. What do you take on a quest? He grabbed two changes of clothes and chucked them in. He pulled his bow of the wall and clipped it onto one of the straps of his backpack, then slid arrows into a side pocket. Grabbing the emergency canister of Ambrosia from under his bed, he slid it into the other side pocket. Then, with a last thought, he chucked in his iPod. Zipping up the bag, he chucked it to one side and walked out the cabin to dinner.

* * *

><p>Tom walked into his cabin. Picking his backpack up off the floor he chucked it on his bed. Placing two set of clothes into the main section; he too reached down under the bed and pulled out a canister of Ambrosia, but pulled a square of nectar as well. He grabbed his sword, which leant against his bedside table, the only one in the cabin, placed it on the bed and sat down. What do you take on a quest? Tom picked up an A4 notebook and chucked it in along with 2 paintbrushes and a paint pallet. He added the metal disc in last. He zipped up the pack and chucked it under the bed. No sooner had he done that, Amelia walked into the cabin.<p>

'Why weren't you at dinner?' she asked immediately as she walked through the door.

'I had some stuff to sort out,' he said shrugging. 'I'll go grab something to eat now,'

Amelia watched him leave.

* * *

><p>Madison sat on her bed. She'd already packed her stuff into a dark green backpack but had added instant coffee and quite a lot of chocolate to the contents. She picked her necklace off her bedside table and clipped it around her neck. 5 days. Not enough time, she thought. They were going west, to where? This was going to be difficult.<p>

* * *

><p>Destiny brought out the package from under her bed. Its green plastic covering was still on, yet the note had faded. She turned it over and reached for an edge to pull. There was a knock at the door. Flipping the package around she quickly shoved it under her bed and stood up. The Hephaestus girl walked in.<p>

'They're done. You can come by and pick up the finished product when you need to,' She eyed her suspiciously 'you didn't design them yourself did you?'

Destiny shook her head. 'I told you they weren't mine, I just found them,'

The girl folded her arms across her chest, frowning slightly 'Did you sneak into **our** caverns and find an underground hideout with them in or something?'

'No, I just found them while I was walking around,' said Destiny trying to think a way out of the conversation. The Hephaestus cabin has underground caverns? Not fair.

The Hephaestus girl shrugged her shoulders. 'Just wondering,' she walked out the door. Destiny checked the sun dial. She need to go to dinner otherwise she wouldn't have any at this rate. She quickly grabbed her knife's sheath, strapped it on the back of her leg, underneath her jeans, pushed the knife in, and walked out to dinner.

* * *

><p>The tables were empty he arrived. Jay dropped down at the centre table and pulled a pizza towards him, flicking the pineapples off when he pulled out a slice. It was Sunday; no-one was going to miss the campfire sing-along so they wouldn't be found out. Tom dropped onto the bench next to him. He reached forwards and grabbed another slice of the pizza and ate it in silence. Madison slid onto the bench opposite Tom, grabbing a vine of grapes along the way. She put her finger on a grape, watching it slowly grow bigger. She pulled the grape off the vine and ate it, looking around thoughtfully.<p>

'Anyone seen Destiny?' she asked still looking around. Tom shook his head. Jay looked up from his pizza.

'She probably still packing,' he said. Madison nodded and returned back to eating. It was several minutes later when she finally arrived. She slid onto the bench next to Madison opposite Jay.

'And where have you been?' Madison demanded bossily.

'Had to go pick up some stuff,' she replied picking up a slice of pizza.

'What was it you had to pick up?' asked Jay.

They waited for her to finish chewing. She swallowed 'Just some stuff I asked the Hephaestus cabin to make,'

'Um… guys,' started Tom 'Has anyone brought any money for like the small stuff, like food and water?'

They all looked at each other in vain hope someone had nodded their head. None of them did.

'Ah,' said Tom 'We seem to have hit a snag,' he returned to his pizza.

'Didn't you think of doing that? As the quest leader?' asked Jay pointing at Tom.

Tom looked up. 'I thought you guys would get something as this is a group quest,'

'Fortunately I thought ahead and prepared a bit for you,' Said Chiron as he walked into the firelight, grinning. He chucked 4 rolled-up packages next to the table and threw them each a wallet.

'$50 is in each of those wallets, keep it safe. And the packages are sleeping bags, which I bet none of you thought of either,' he said walking up to them. They all looked at him gratefully. 'I've had to prepare allot of heroes so you're not really that different,' he smiled. 'I wish you good luck on your quest,'

'Chiron, we still have 2 hours before we have to leave. I'm relaxing right up until that point,' said Tom leaning backwards.

'Maybe so, but you should always be on your guard,' He cantered off. Madison stared at Tom thoughtfully.

'Do we have tents?' she asked chewing on a grape.

'Nope,'

'Waterproof clothing?'

'Nope,'

'Stove to cook our food? Traps for catching food?'

Tom just looked at her. 'We were each given $50 by Chiron; it's up to you to decide what to do with it,' He returned to his pizza. Madison looked at him grumpily but returned back to her grapes. Destiny pushed her plate forwards.

'I don't know about you guys but I'm gonna get ready,' She slid off the bench gracefully, picked up a sleeping bag, and walked off, her golden hair swaying behind her. They watched her go.

'Well I'm going to do the same,' Jay stood up and walked off. Madison and Tom ate in silence.

'We're probably screwed,' Madison said. Tom nodded. She was a bit blunt and a bit bossy, but she was easy to get along with. He smiled to himself. Only the embers of the fire glowed now, casting long shadows. Madison stood up.

'I'm going to have a rest before we go,' she walked off. Tom sat there for another 5 minutes before getting up and walking off. The wind blew through the dining pavilion. The coals flared for a moment, illuminating a boy standing in the shadows, then died, the darkness consuming everything.

* * *

><p>Jay leant against one of the pillars at the entrance. The wind had picked up and his hair had responded by becoming a mess. The stars twinkled above him. His dark green picked out two people, a boy and a girl, sneaking between the cabins. Madison walked up to him. He looked at her, slightly untrusting.<p>

'I just seen Khris and Matt pass by the cabins if you were wondering who was sneaking around. Probably out to watch the stars,' she leant against the other pillar. Jay watched her for a moment, then returned to looking at the camp. Everyone was asleep (apart from afore mentioned). It was pretty weird that nobody knew that they were leaving. Still, at least then they couldn't embarrass themselves. Destiny walked up and stood in the middle of the entrance of the camp. The wind picked up, her and Madison's hair blew freely in the wind. She'd put a leather jacket, that looked slightly too big for her, and clutched it tightly around her. Madison hadn't opted for another layer; the cold didn't affect her as much as her natural abilities, coming from nature, protected her from some of the smaller changes. Jay too had opted for none as his temperature always stayed the same. Tom came slowly up the hill, wearing a thick coat.

'Well whether were ready for it or not, we have to go on this quest,' He said looking out to the city. Clouds rolled over the city, the wind whistled past the trees. Few pinpricks of light moved slowly along the street, while not a single moving thing was on the pavement.

'Let us go west then, and hope that we don't die along the way,' he said grimly

**Epic Foreshadowing…. NOT! **

**Sorry for that comment which I have just put down. I am just so bored sometimes. **

**Dealing with mild depression at the minute guys, should pass over but I feel as though I should be broken off from all life-forms**

**Probably won't update until next Saturday, not this Saturday coming**


	8. Chapter 8

**So The Eighth Chapter.**

**Why do Fanfiction writers always put something up here?**

**I also have to calculate when you guys are most likely going to be on as I'm in Britain, 8 hours ahead of you (most of you Americans)**

'I hate everything,' said Jay, resigned, after stepping in a large puddle. He shook his leg off and carried on forwards. They walked through Central park. The clouds had unleashed what they held in them, rain covering everything. Lightning flashed across the clouds, the wind howled through the trees while they slowly trudged through rivers of overflowed gutters. They continued to trudge along, seeing no sign of any dryads. The sun had gone, they'd summarised that with his own Oracle down, Apollo wasn't feeling his best.

Madison stopped, finding shelter underneath a giant tree. The others joined her, their packs knocking against each other's.

'This is stupid. We have 5 days, and in half a day we've only gone a mile. We don't even know where we're going,' she cried angrily.

'Let's just keep going,' Tom lugged his pack and moved onwards. Destiny followed. Jay glanced at the ominous sky and carried on. Madison followed grudgingly.

They continued. Reaching a dense clump of trees where the rain couldn't penetrate, Jay threw down his back pack.

'I demand at least a rest so we can at least work out our route,' he said dropping next to his pack. Tom nodded and threw off his pack next to a tree. Destiny and Madison both dropped their packs and sat down, leaning against them. Tom pulled out a map.

'So any ideas for transportation? We not going anywhere unless we get some mode of transport,' he flattened out the map. 'Any ideas?'

'We're going west, great load of help that was,' Madison said searching through her pack.

'Perhaps we haven't met the "person" yet,' said Destiny, shrugging.

'Great load of help he was too,' said Jay's voice from where he was lying on the forest floor.

'But when's he gonna appear? We only have 5 days!' complained Madison.

'Complaining not exactly going to get us anywhere so calm down,' said Jay.

'Easy for you to say, you haven't been getting wet from the start of this trip. You just have to regulate your body heat to 100° and everything evaporates off you,'

Jay shrugged. 'Can't help the way I was born,'

'Can't help that you were also born an idiot either,' Madison shot back.

Jay sat up, angry. 'Maybe so, but at least my powers extend beyond growing flowers,'

'Well threatening everyone you first meet is exactly the best way to make friends,' Madison shouted

'Well the camp won't run out of chocolate now you've gone,'

'Bastard,'

'Bitch,' Jay and Madison stood, eye to eye, 2 inches from each other, both a deep shade of red.

'Guys stop it!' the two looked around. Destiny sat there, her knees clutched to her chest, crying softly into them. Tom got up and sat next to her, pulling out a tissue which she accepted gratefully. The two looked at each other then hung their heads. Madison held out a hand.

'Truce?' she asked timidly.

Jay grinned. 'Only a truce? Once this quest is over you are **so** going to be put in your place,'

Madison grinned as well 'We'll see,' Jay shook her hand.

'Sheesh, any more and I would have had to step in,'

There, on a branch of the tree, sat a 14 year old boy in a ripped white t-shirt, and black jogging bottoms that had long gashes in them. On his right shoulder there was a bandage. On his right cheek, a prominent scar.

Peter.

**Man, sorry for the shortness of this chapter but my depression hit me a lot harder than I expected. Amazing what an emotion re-think an do to you, And I'm emotionally deficient.**


	9. Chapter 9

**So The Ninth Chapter.**

**Okay, depression gone, story going fine, and I've run out of things to say up here.**

**Is anybody out there? I haven't any hits or review for ages! I've update twice and only one review**

'You!' Jay shouted, pointing at him.

Peter sat there, soaked to the bone, his eyebrows raised slightly. The group stared at him.

'And?'

'Well…um…,' Jay retracted his arm slightly but regained his confidence 'Who are you?'

'Why don't you ask Destiny that?' he said, nodding to her.

'Peter,' she breathed, amazed. 'I–I didn't think I would see you again,'

'Neither did I,' he said grudgingly slipping off his branch, landing lightly. 'But I have a debt to pay off, so helping you out now is the easiest way to repay it,' he sat down his back against the tree.

'Wait!' Destiny said urgently. She turned around and started rummaging through her pack, while the group turned to look. She pulled out two heavily padded packages and laid them on the floor. Tom shuffled over and, placing a hand on one of the packages, shot a questioning look towards Destiny.

'Go ahead,' she said, motioning with her hand. Tom pulled apart the packaging while Destiny opened the other one. As the packaging unfurled Peter got up and craned his head over the backs of Madison and Jay.

There, laying in the open packaging, were two, finely crafted, forearm-length gloves. On the left was a simple black fingerless one with some sort of padding over the back of the hand and the forearm, while the other had an entire metal device beginning where the wrist met the forearm and finishing about ¾ down the forearm. It had a single metal plate covering the forearm, on top of it was a serrated shaft. A small claw was at the opening of the shaft.

'You made these?' Tom asked looking sideways at Destiny, eyebrows raised questioningly.

'Of course not,' Peter looked at her incredulously. 'You were the one who stole my blueprints?'

'I didn't steal them; **you** just left them behind,'

'And you had them made,'

'I hoped that I'd meet you again, and if I did I'd give you these,' she said shyly.

'Great, now I have an even bigger debt to pay off,' Peter muttered reaching forth. Madison stepped in front and slapped his hand away.

'What makes you think we trust you?' she asked annoyed.

'Isn't that his line?' Peter said, pointing to Jay. Jay turned a shade of magenta, putting a hand on the hilt of his dagger. 'Besides, they're mine,' he said, nodding towards the gloves. 'And if Destiny wants to give them to me then that also makes them rightfully mine,'

'We're not on about them,' Jay growled his hand still on the hilt of his dagger. 'Why do you owe Des? Why should we trust you?'

'Destiny tended to my wounds, and no, you shouldn't trust me easily, but I will answers questions,' Peter said his face turning expressionless, almost like he was bored.

'Who are you?' asked Tom getting up and standing next to Jay.

'Peter Skyrine,'

'Godly parent?'

'Won't say,'

The group looked on, confused. 'You just said you'll answer questions,' Madison said rather dejectedly.

Peter shrugged 'I did, but I didn't say you'll answer you like,' Tricky git.

'Fine,' Tom sighed 'age?'

'14, but 15 in a week,'

'Mortal parent?'

Something like mist seemed to pass over Peter's eyes 'Angela Skyrine, dead,'

'Where do you come from?'

'Wales,'

'Where?'

Peter raised an eyebrow 'You're kidding me? How about Britain?'

'Yeah I know there,'

'Thank god,' Peter muttered. Tom looked him up and down critically. This guy had no fashion sense. Madison picked up where Tom left off.

'Weapons?' she asked casting her gaze around his waist.

'Dual Swords,'

'Where? Cause I can't see any,' she said pointing to his waist.

Peter sighed. Putting his hands in his pockets he pulled out two silver crafted hilts.

'Not much of–' A blade grew out of one of the hilts 'Oh,' Madison said in a very small voice. Peter retracted the blade and stuffed the hilts back in his pockets.

'Where'd you get them?' asked Jay eyeing his pockets somewhat apprehensively.

Peter shrugged 'I did a job and that was my payment. Any more questions or is that it?'

'Nope,' Tom had returned from looking at his clothing 'What are your Powers like?'

'Won't say,' he had turned expressionless again. Why didn't he just say?

'Why not? You could try and attack us while we we're off guard?'

'If that's the case why haven't I killed you already?' The glade fell silent. Tom looked straight into Peter's eye, who stared straight back, expressionless.

'You are a demi-god, right?' he asked cautiously, His eyes narrowing slightly.

'Of course,'

'Then why haven't I seen you at camp?' he asked accusingly.

The wind picked up slightly. Peter was silent for a moment, then-

'Because I don't belong there,' he said quietly.

'What?' Unheard of. Camp half blood was to accept any demi-god nowadays; surely it was the only safe place? So why was this guy different?

Peter once again was silent. The wind had died down, so only the pattering of the rain was heard. Then it stopped. A squirrel poked it head out a hole in the tree hopefully, then retracted it. The group on the ground hadn't moved.

'Are we gonna stand here all day or are you going to accept my help?' Peter asked quietly.

'If you promise not to betray us, yeah, sure,' said Jay dangerously.

'Never intended to,'

'We'll see,' Tom picked up both gloves and chucked them to Peter. He'd gotten everything he wanted, what was there to stop him killing us? Peter put on each off the gloves then looked at him straight in the eye.

'Come on, we've got a long way to go,' He turned and started walking out of the glade, out of the edge of Central park, and out into New York.

It did seem kind of strange, walking through New York, following someone they hardly knew. Tom thought this thought a couple of times. As they pushed past the crowds of people, no looked their way. Suddenly, Peter stopped, making Jay crash into his back. Tom looked up. A sign with overgrowth all over it said "Rail Corridor" Peter reached up and brushed away some of the leaves away. "High Speed Rail Corridor".

'Get a Train to Buffalo, I'll meet you on the train,' he said walking past the train station. Tom looked at Destiny. She shrugged and walked into the station. If possible, the feeling of weirdness grew even more as the woman behind the desk asked 'going camping are we?' as she handed Tom the tickets. They got on the platform.

Destiny looked around. Peter had said he'd pay off his debt so why hadn't he come with them? She noticed the door of the train open. Nudging Madison to notify her, she walked onto the train. Two seats had been turned around to face two others and a rectangle table had been placed in the middle. Chucking her bag onto the table, she threw herself down onto a seat. She looked out the window.

There on the overhang, sat Peter. Destiny waved at him frantically, the doors were about to close. Peter didn't seem to notice. Madison, Tom and Jay were getting through the door of the train. The beeping meant the doors were going to close any second now. Destiny jumped out of her seat. Pushing past the other three, she made it to the door.

SLAM!

She hit the door. Rubbing the top of her head, she pressed her nose against the see-through plastic. Peter was standing up now. The Train jolted, then, very slowly, started picking up speed.

'What's up Des?' Madison came back from chucking her pack on the table. Destiny kept staring at Peter who was pressing buttons the device on his left forearm.

'What the hell is he doing?' Madison pushed her nose against the glass next to Destiny. Tom and Jay walked over.

'What's outside?' asked Tom as Jay tried to look past the girls through the window.

'He said he'd meet us on the train…' said Madison slowly.

The train was moving quite quickly now as family members were jogging alongside the train waving towards relatives. People were sitting down properly now, shoving bags under seats and sitting down, usually with a book or listing to an iPod.

'Jeez… 500 meters and were already losing him,' Tom sighed.

'What do mean losing him? He's the only one who knows the route!' Destiny shouted spinning around.

'Oh crap,' said Jay as the train left the platform entirely.

Peter, however, obviously had other ideas. A button pressed, a circular disc came out of the bottom of the glove around the wrist, and stayed there, a disc connected to the glove in the middle of his palm. While the gadget constructed itself Peter ran along the overhang.

'Come on,' muttered Madison.

Running faster Peter came towards the edge. The group held their breath as Peter pushed himself off his left leg into the air. He reached his optimum height though. Coming down, Peter threw out his left to grab the edge. The train had moved away though.

No look of panic crossed Peters face though, as he descended towards solid ground. He clamped onto the disc in his palm. The claw shot out the shaft grabbing the back of the train, jerking Peter forwards and into the air once again. The group noticed the grapple slowly retracting itself as Peter got closer. Rushing to the back window they looked for a catch. Peter had reached the back window, still held on with grapple claw. He motioned for them all to move backwards, and, once they had gone a meter, he jumped up, coming back down smashing through the window.

He was looking at his grapple when he landed. He looked up, as if he had just noticed them.

'What? I said I'd meet you on the train,'

**For you who want to see the stuff Peter designed, I could only get one picture as an arm mounted grappling claw is hard to make or find.** **.com/images/Century%20Hand%20Forearm%**

**Does anyone review these days?**


	10. Chapter 10  Peter's Past

**So The Tenth Chapter. **

**All will be explained…. Eventually.**

**And I will post my forum link on my page… as soon as I can find my own forum**

**~~~Peter's Past~~~**

Madison eyed him carefully. He sat across from them at the opposite table staring out the window. What was his game? Why didn't he just buy a ticket? Was he just here to show off? What was his game?

'If you want to ask me a question you don't have to stare at me,'

Madison started. He hadn't even looked around. There was a sort of aura around him that almost seemed like he just knew.

'Can you… Can you tell us about your past?' She asked.

'You mean tell you,' he said turning to face her. He was right. Destiny was curled up next to her, using the armrest as a pillow. Tom had given up trying to draw things in the distance and had fallen asleep, his head lying on the paper he was painting on. Jay was asleep in his seat next to Tom still holding the knife he was sharping in one hand and the pocket whetstone in the other. Peter motioned towards the seat opposite him. Madison got up and then landed in the seat softly.

'How should I start?' he said closing his eyes briefly. 'I suppose I should start at the beginning…

'As you know my mother is dead, she died giving me life. I went straight to an orphanage. I grew up demi-god, unknowing than I was naturally stronger than most. I can't really say that much about my time in the orphanage other than I learned to be happy with what you've got. I was fascinated by myths and legends though. Every day I hoped that this world wasn't real, that I would wake up somewhere where those myths were real. But then at 5, I realised reality is sometimes a bit to real,'

'One of the largest hellhounds I've ever seen came. I'd seen them in books but it was unbelievable. It tore apart the orphanage with a frenzy. I ran. I was five, what was I supposed to do? You've heard about those who made a last stand, those who failed in stopping the beast but sacrificed their life anyway,'

'A candle that burns half as bright burns half as long,' Madison reasoned.

'Great, but that doesn't tell us what those candles did nor where they were, did it?' Peter responded raising an eyebrow.

'Anyway. I escaped. Tired, out of breath, covered in various wounds, but I escaped. From then on I lived on the streets. Salvaged what money I could and tried my best to stay alive. Then I started my training in Tae-Kwon-Do. The master didn't ask any questions. As long I paid my 4 pounds a week, I could come. That lasted for an entire 4 years. I had nothing to do but learn how to survive so most of my time was practicing techniques I'd learnt. Once I'd gotten far enough into my training I left though. I still had a lot to find out. I started travelling, all over Britain. I had to somehow find a connection which was so far away from the western civilisation it'd be in Britain. Wasn't easy, I found Narcissus. The gods are sick sometimes, how they can keep a joke going for ages is just beyond cruel if you ask me. Still, Aphrodite's not exactly the most stable of the gods,'

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

'Oh bugger off,' Peter said waving a hand towards the window.

'And then?' Madison asked.

'I found out about us, the gods and everything to do with it,' Peter shrugged. 'Managed to sneak onto a plane to America and have been on the move ever since. It also explained my emotions,'

'What about them?' This was starting to get interesting now.

'My lack of them. I'm emotionally-deficient,' Peter continued as Madison felt confused and obviously showed it. 'It means I can't feel them as well as normal people. And no, I'm not a cold heartless killing machine. I do have some emotions,'

To Madison though, it registered something. 'Is that why you're always expressionless? It seems a bit weird,'

'Yeah, it's also why I'm not sociable either,' Peter said, looking once again out of the window.

Madison watched him for some time while he looked out the window. He seemed so composed because he couldn't really get angry. It was why he didn't smile or laugh. To him, it was get down to business and do it. He turned back to her and looked slowly at her.

'Does your group need any help with anything?' he asked.

'Why do you care?' it was her turn to raise an eyebrow.

'I don't really, but if you guys are going to survive then you should try and get rid of some of your problems. I've already sworn to help you on this quest so why can't I help you now?'

Madison thought for a bit, looking over at her sleeping comrades. The pocket whetstone had fallen out of Jay's left hand but the dagger stayed firmly in his grasp. What was it he could help with? Jay's untrusting nature? Tom's inability to be a leader and plan? Her anger and bossiness? Destiny's oversensitivity? But then…

'Do you know anything about Powers?' she asked cautiously still looking at the group.

'Yeah, I've seen plenty of different ones on my travels, so quite a bit,' he said, nodding with palms upwards.

'Is there any way you could help out Destiny mastering her Powers?' she asked quickly, turning to face him.

Peter's brow furrowed for a second. 'Daughter of..?'

'Iris,'

'Photokinesis, the manipulation of light to create hardened structures and/or projectiles. That her Power, right?' he asked questioningly.

Madison shrugged. 'I suppose,'

Peter watched Destiny for a bit, silent. The sort of silence you get with a train was amplified. The _click-clack _of the train was still in the background but it seemed to grow slightly quieter. After what seemed like an eternity Peter spoke

'I'm not gonna say definitely. It's not my power so I can't really say what it's like first hand, but I do know this: you usually need a stronger frame. I won't go into the details but as you concentrate, with light, the instability grows as concentrated light isn't normal in this world. The quakes given off by controlling that sort of power are known to split bones, which isn't good as Destiny has quite a light frame,'

'So what you're saying,' Madison continued slowly 'is that even if she gains control of her Power, if she adds in too much energy, she could break parts of her body'

'That's about the shape of it,' he'd returned to his old expressionless self.

'Is there any way you could help?' pleaded Madison. She shocked herself there. She was meant to be independent and she was asking for help. But if this was for Destiny…

Peter sighed. 'I'll give it a try, but if goes badly wrong don't blame me,'

'Thanks,' she smiled slightly, and, much to her concealed shock, so did he. She got up and sat next to her sleeping comrades. She watched Peter pull off the leather covering on his right arm glove, revealing several shifting plates underneath.

'Just some hand and forearm armour. The Hephaestus cabin knows what it's doing,' he said. He still knew that she was watching. Scenery rushed past, trees, mountains, lakes. All gone within 5 minutes of spotting them. She ordered a coffee from the lady with the trolley and sipped on it quietly as she contemplated what to think. Well the obvious thought was Peter. He'd revealed his past, but really, she still didn't know anything about him.

He looked up suddenly. He motioned for her to come over. She crept over and sat opposite him. He leaned forwards.

'Very normally, go up and wake the other three,' he whispered jerking his head towards them.

'Why?' she whispered back without knowing why she was. There was just something in his voice.

'Can't yo– oh of course not,' he shook his head slightly as if to take away some expectation. 'Just wake them up and tell them to draw their weapons, but not in a threatening way, just…. Lay them on the table or something,'

'Why?' she asked again.

'Oh nothing, just a horde of Dracaena making their way along the train,' he said in an off-hand voice.

'Ah,' she said slowly. Getting up she shook Destiny until her eyes fluttered a bit. Moving round she pushed Jay into Tom, making them tumble off their chairs. After getting past their grumbling, she told them the situation.

'Only he says though,' Jay said throwing a dirty look towards Peter once she'd told them.

'Come on, what is there to suggest that he's going to betray us,' Destiny reasoned rubbing her eyes open.

'Maybe he's the person who is going to find the trail, but where does that trail lead? Will he lead us to a trap?'

'Just get your weapons out,' Tom said shortly. After seeing Jay's look of despair he continued 'even if there isn't an attack and we look at it from your point of view, he might attack us so we should be prepared,'

Jay resigned to this. He pulled his own longbow off the side of his pack and laid it on the table. Destiny reached under her jeans and pulled out her dagger, placing it carefully on the table. Tom pulled out an old celestial bronze sword. Madison unclipped her necklace, placing the slowly growing whip onto the table. Across from them, Peter had laid both of his hilts on the table.

They sat there, straining their ears, listing for some kind of noise, a slither, the clunk of irregular stepping, something that indicated monsters. Peter just stared as far down the carriage as he could. He could hear them Tom thought. But how? He had no idea.

Then after an eternity of waiting, the rattle of the connecting door sliding open. Peter leaned forwards, his hands on the table, the façade of looking at his nails. Then Tom looked down the aisle.

There, walking down the aisle, were sixteen teenage temptresses. Each one of them wearing what seemed to be low cut short-sleeved shirts, as if they had just come from school. Every midriff was exposed and every chest gave off cleavage. The walked slowly up the aisle, swaying their hips seductively. They reached their table. The first one open it mouth but never got the chance to speak. What Tom saw Peter do next, was the most inhuman thing he could think off. But after 5 seconds, Tom was thankful that he did do, what he did, when he did.

As the first girl tried to speak, leaning forwards to give Tom a better view, receiving very dirty looks from both Destiny and Madison, a blade appeared through her stomach. Screaming as she exploded into dust, her sisters turned to see where the blade had come from. There sat Peter, an arm lazily stretched out with blade fully grown.

The Dracaenas screamed, but whether in anger or fear, Tom couldn't tell. A Dracaena lunged at Peter and all chaos insured. Quickly rolling over the table, he swiped with left blade cutting a monster's head clean of. The other hilt's blade appeared and Peter, pushing off a seat, swiped through another two. The Dracaenas transformed, and Tom thanked all gods he could think of that he hadn't even touched one of them. Jay picked up his bow and shot an arrow over Peter's shoulder getting one through the throat, while Destiny, who was furthest away from the aisle, pushed herself over the back of her chair and slashed one through the neck as she came down. Jay jumped up onto the table as Tom tried to climb over the chair on the right side of the train as Destiny had the left. Madison picked up her whip; it uncoiled as she got out of her seat. After Peter stabbed another one through the stomach while blocking another spear thrust, she shouted 'Duck!' He ducked under a spear swing; Madison lashed her whip around the spear pulling it out of the Dracaena hands then snapping the whip around its neck. Peter from his crouched position pushed forwards, his two swords thrust out in front of him, spearing another three on the end of his swords. Jay had got another three with his arrows. While Destiny kicked one in the chest making it crash back into another one, who was engaged with Tom, and became decapitated as Tom slashed though both of them. Another went down by Jay's bow. Peter sidestepped a blade thrust; Madison caught the Dracaena with the entire whip the thorns piercing into its body.

'Is that it?' Peter asked breathing slowly.

'Over there!' Tom shouted. The last Dracaena was fleeing towards the door.

'Jay!' Madison shouted.

'I'm out of arrows!'

The Dracaena reached the door and slammed on the button. Destiny pushed her way into the aisle, flipped her knife so she grabbed it by the blade, and threw it. It was accurate, but the Dracaena went through the door and it started closing behind her. The knife sailed on. The Dracaena pressed the button for the other door. As the door closed the flimsy plastic window came out. The knife smashed through the window, and landed, in the back of Dracaena's head.

The group stood there, all panting slightly.

'Nice shot,' Peter commented. He walked back and landed in his seat.


	11. Chapter 11 That Irish Bloke

**So The Eleventh Chapter.**

**Thanks for all the reviews guys, the more the merrier. So recommend the story to someone else, the more reviews the faster I update.**

~~~ That Irish Bloke ~~~

'Never again,' Tom muttered, his eyes closed. The train trundled onwards. They had only thirty miles left to cover, and the glowing orange sunset reflected off the deep sapphire curve on the horizon that was Lake Erie.

'Never again what?' asked Madison. She sat opposite Tom across the table, next to the window.

'Never again will I look at a girl in the same way,' he muttered, his eyes still closed, leaning back in his seat. Both Madison and Destiny giggled at this while Jay looked as though he had a point. Peter just looked out the window. The group watched him again. His foot was tapping a beat, and his was nodding along slightly.

'I still say I don't trust him,' said Jay defiantly casting a dark look at Peter. He returned it inspecting his knife.

'Dunno what to think really,' said Tom closing his eyes again. Madison got up, shifted past Destiny, and walked into the aisle.

'Where you going Mads?' asked Destiny turning to her.

'To talk to him,' Madison shrugged.

'Oh, mind if I join you?' she asked timidly.

'Maybe you should ask him that,' she said jabbing a thumb towards Peter.

'Why not?' Peter said, still staring at the horizon.

Madison stood next to the chair and motioned for Destiny to go in. Destiny shook her head vigorously. Madison grabbed her firmly on one shoulder and steered her in. Destiny landed in her seat giving a resentful look for a second, then put her elbows on the table and held her head in her hands, watching Peter. Madison slid into the chair next to her. She opened her mouth to speak,

'How did you know about the Dracaenas?' Destiny blurted out, looking quizzically at Peter.

'Sensitive hearing,' he said as if it was nothing.

Madison sighed 'How did you afford to do all the stuff you did?'

Peter turned around in and sat in his seat, looking down the aisle then turned back. Peter exhaled air, then 'I stole quite a bit of it. I know it's wrong really but we have a god of stealing and thieves, every time I stole, I honoured him. I snuck onto the plane to America, admitted without paying, and it just went from there,'

'And because of your emotions you couldn't feel guilt,' nodded Madison.

'You got it,'

'Wait, what?' Destiny asked looking from Peter to Madison and then back.

'You didn't tell them?' Peter asked turning towards Madison.

'Sort of slipped from my mind,' she smiled weakly. 'Peter has diminished emotions,'

'What, so you can't feel guilt, surprise or envy?' Destiny asked looking confused.

'Yep. My emotions are: Happiness, remorse, courage, trust, hope, friendliness and relaxed.' He sat there counting them off his fingers 'Not that many really,' Peter shrugged.

'Can you feel Love?' Destiny asked timidly, blushing slightly.

Peter watched her for a minute; she squirmed in her seat slightly, then he looked out the window.

'Yes I do. I have felt it, but I have not felt it for some time. Perhaps it's something you need to work on,' he shrugged once again and turned back towards them.

'Destiny, you're a Daughter of Iris, right?'

'Umm… yeah b–'

'Do you need any help with your Powers?' Peter interrupted smiling slightly.

'Ok, when and where?' she said crossing her arms.

Peter smiled properly this time. 'The girl next to you, just before all the Dracaenas came,'

'You could have kept it quiet that I asked you,' Madison muttered in annoyance.

'Just telling the truth,' he said grinning slightly now. 'So what about it Destiny?'

'How much do you know about it? And if you do, why?' Destiny asked eyeing him.

'I know a bit about it. I've travelled the world and seen quite a bit of it, but it isn't my Power, so really I can't tell you that much about it,'

'So what can you do?'

'I can tell you what needs to be done, but other than that, not much really. You'll have to come up with your own attacks,'

'Oh,'

Silence descended like a man forgetting to open his parachute on the way down. Madison got up and sat in her previous place across from Tom. Peter watched the sun slowly creep past the horizon. It was halfway through its setting now. Destiny sat opposite Peter, her hands on the table and her head on top of her hands, and just stared at him. Tom had pulled out an old painting and was analysing it critically. Jay watched Peter, but his eyes kept flicking towards Destiny. The train slowly stopped.

'Come on, we got a quick walk and then onto a boat before 10 o'clock,' Peter got up out of his chair. The group trudged along behind him. The doors opened and they stepped down onto the platform.

Something changed though. Destiny didn't feel it herself but she saw Peter sense it. He tensed up, stuffed his right hand in his pocket and pulled out one of his hilts in a wide arc, the blade growing as he pulled out the hilt. A claw clanged against the blade.

To the right of them stood, Destiny corrected herself, floated a white vampire. It was a ghost and vampire combined, it had the physical appearance of a vampire, but had the transparency and faint glow of a ghost. The only difference was this vampire had claws as well as teeth.

'Been a long time hasssn't it,' the spirit-vampire sounded, like a snake being strangled.

'Yeah, I really hope I don't actually get injured fighting you this time,' replied Peter.

'Ah but you alwaysss come out alive, but thisss time you won't,' the spirit-vampire hissed. 'I will not be killed by the likessss of you,'

The spirit-vampire drew back a claw to strike. Peter pulled out another hilt. The spirit-vampire reached it optimum height, Peter crouched slightly, then two crossbow blots appeared where its eyes were. It screamed, clutching its eyes then exploded into dust.

'Who said you had to be killed by me?' muttered Peter, relaxing and shoving his hilts back in his pockets.

Then, ringing across the platform with a strong Irish accent, someone shouted

'Well, It's about bloody time,'

**Apparently according to a survey, Americans walk less than 1.4 miles a week. To those of you reading this, I have a question. What do you say to that?**

**I apologize for the shortness of this chapter, but I thought I just needed to make it like this**

**The more reviews the better. A.k.a I'll update quicker the more reviews there are.**


	12. Chapter 12 You Think We're Paying?

**So The Twelfth Chapter.**

**Son Of Neptune has been released at last! In America... And I'm in Britain… Bugger.**

**And I have started naming my chapters.**

**And Whoever it was own up! Which one person read my story 23 times? Out of nowhere a massive bar springs up!**

~~ You Think We're paying? ~~

'Been a long time hasn't it,' Peter said crossing his arms.

'Peter?' The boy who was shouting was sitting on a platform bench, being completely ignored by the masses even though he was holding a crossbow in one hand. The boy was quite tall, had green eyes and sort of scruffy-curly hair. The difference from Peter's is that it was actually a hair style rather than just a puff of hair in a mess. He wore like Peter black jogging bottoms but wore a green T-shirt that said 'I'm not Drunk, Yet'. His hands had black fingerless gloves on them. His belt held many things including an extra crossbow, some sort of rune and several bottles which held several different liquids.

'Been a while since I last saw you,' Peter commented looking thoughtful.

'A long time? It's been a year! Ever since you left nobody has been able to find you,' He exclaimed, getting up from his seat.

'You expect me to be found? After how long you've known me?' He asked expressionless again.

'But you left 1 year ago. And in that time nobody has been able to see you, everybody wants to see you again,'

'Ummm….' Madison, Destiny, Tom and Jay stood there dumbfounded. The boy looked over Peter shoulder and shot a questioning at him. Peter turned around slightly grinning slightly.

'Guys, this is Paddy. For one he's Irish, two, I'd swear he's a living nutter, and three, he one of the most trusting and understanding people you might ever meet,'

'Why are they with you?' he asked motioning towards them.

'Because I'm in debt to them. I know it's usually the other way around, but that's the way it works,' Peter shrugged.

'You're telling me,' He turned to the others 'You alright guys? I'm Paddy, known Peter for 6 years and if you trust him, you can trust me. Son of Apollo by the way,'

'Someone's full of their own importance,' Peter said raising an eyebrow. Paddy shrugged, smiling.

'So who are you guys then?' Paddy asked holding out a gloved hand.

Tom shook it 'Tom,'

Jay nodded 'Jay,'

Madison also shook his hand 'Madison,'

Destiny waved 'Destiny,'

'And I'm Lamia,'

A knife appeared around Paddy's neck. The hand holding it was clawed, twisted and made of many different colours. The arm and body it was connected to was the same, its eyes were slits with small purple dots for eyes while its lower half was a serpents tail. The face was nothing more than twisted flesh and how it spoke was anyone's guess.

Peter had drawn his hilts so fast Jay thought it was practically impossible to do so without ripping open his jogging bottoms. The blades slid out of the hilts slowly.

'You move and your friend here goes to the other world,' Lamia screeched out.

Peter stood there looking into Paddy's eyes. Paddy stood there frozen, completely unmoving. Not even a breath escaped from either of them. The others breathed slowly. Then Jay sensed something changed. Was it the air?

Suddenly, as if his feet had been kicked out from behind him, Paddy fell backwards, his feet sliding forwards. Peter closed the distance with a push of his left leg. Right leg strong, he swiped with both swords, his left one first, spinning in a circle but going forwards at the same time. Lamia brought up the knife to block the first blade. The first sword smashed the knife completely in half; the second just nicked its neck. Lamia screamed in pain but didn't have time to recover. The left blade came around again slicing the head clean off while the other went through the body cutting it in half. Peter did another rotation and stopped, both swords held just above his left shoulder.

'_Ανεμοστρόβιλος_,' he whispered, slowly bringing his body back up. Behind him, Lamia's body disintegrated slowly, the dust spiralling upwards.

'Geez, I forgot how hard concrete used to be,' Paddy muttered getting up, rubbing the back of his head.

The swords slid back into their hilts. Peter turned around, grinning.

'Just like old times eh?'

'Other than the fact that's the first time Lamia and Mormo double-teamed us,' Paddy chuckled, still rubbing the back of his head.

'Mormo?' questioned Jay.

'The ghost vampire thing,' Paddy said. This day just kept getting weirder.

Peter shrugged. 'Come on guys we gotta grab a boat to Cleveland. It's an overnight voyage so we'll be moving and have time for a rest at the same time,' Peter turned to Paddy, shoving his hilts back into his pockets 'You've got to tell me about what happened when I left,'

The group picked up their bags and set off. They walked for 15 minutes through the darkness. Car headlights occasionally went past, blinding them for a second. They crept around some sleeping homeless, passed several broken telephone boxes and hid from one drunk. It was only when Peter stopped, making Jay crash into him, that their eyes had become fully accustomed to the dark and they saw the outline of a cruise ship.

'How on earth are we meant to get on that? We hardly have enough money for 1 of us,' Madison asked furiously.

'You think were paying?' Peter asked, his eyebrows rose while Paddy looked at her as if she was mad. Peter raised his left arm.

'Oh you got them made did you?' asked Paddy mildly.

'They made them for me, which also increased my debt to them,' The gauntlet fired. The grapple claw hit the side of the cruiser and punctured the metal. Peter tested the strength.

'If you want to grab on, do it on your own head,' Paddy grabbed his hand quickly and they both shot off towards the cruiser. A dull _thump _came across the harbour followed closely by an 'Owwwww….' and then a 'I told you not to come,'

The group waited a minute. Then the boat creaked, a walkway came down slowly, each part sliding out getting longer slowly.

'Welcome aboard the S.S Marine,' Paddy said sliding down the banister of the steps. 'If you go up these steps and take a left, Peter is finding sleeping arrangements as we speak,'

The group walked up the steps, Paddy coming in last to pull all of the steps back up.

'So where are the normal passengers boarding?' Tom asked as he helped Paddy pull up the last of the steps.

'Around the other side. This was built for double boarding but seeing as there's not many people boarding at night they only use one side. If you want to go buy something from the cafeteria then do it while the ship is moving. And as for how were getting accommodations that's easy. Peter and I used to do it all the time. Whenever there are a load of passengers boarding or it's the start of a cruise the captain always leaves his quarters to greet the passengers. We simply sneak in and nick the master key. Then, at the end of the voyage, we simply give it back saying we found a lost key card,'

'Any drawbacks?'

'Not really but if we get found out once we hand it back the only advice I'd give to you, is leg it,'

'Great,' they walked through to the corridor where 3 doors were open. Walking through the open door Paddy sat on the chair next to the desk while Tom sat next to Jay on the bottom bunk. Peter leant against the wall opposite the door. Destiny and Madison both sat on the top bunk their legs hanging off the edge.

'Me and Paddy will take the last room, Jay, you and Tom can take this room and Destiny and Madison you can take the next room,' said Peter. He pushed himself off the wall and slouched out the room, looking physically tired. Paddy followed suit looking slightly better than Peter but still tired nevertheless. Madison and Destiny dropped from the bunk and slouched out as well. Jay just fell backwards.

'Bottom bunk's mine,' he said his eyes closed.

'Well damn you then,' Tom yawned climbing up to the top bunk. Without even changing his clothes, his head hit the pillow and his eyes closed without warning.

Destiny put her head down on the bottom bunk's pillow. No sleep claimed her though. She writhed around but nothing happened. She sat up, listing hard. She put the ear to the wall the bunk was against. She heard low voices, muffled, talking slowly. They seemed to be having an argument about something. She got slowly out of bed, tip-toed out of the room, and pressed her ear against Paddy and Peter's door.

'You told them you can help?'

'I only tell the truth,'

'Yeah but on more than one occasion you said that saying nothing isn't lying as well,' Paddy complained.

'True…' sighed Peter.

'Then get it out of the way, if you're going to help her do it fast, we haven't got much time for this quest from what you told me. Tomorrow we only have 4 days,'

'Fine I'll do it now alright? Sheesh... you haven't changed, Peg's the same,'

'You've seen Peg?'

'Yeah, haven't you been able to see him?'

'He only came to talk to you, so no. He was nice though,'

Bed springs creaked as Peter got off his bunk, and with a soft _thump _landed on the carpet. Hurriedly, Destiny ran into her own room. In her haste though she tripped over the shoes next to the door and her face hit the bed while the rest of her body sprawled next to the bunk. The door creaked open.

'I didn't know bed tasted so good,'

Destiny whirled around on the floor. Peter leant against the doorframe grinning slightly.

'I…er…I..um,' she stuttered her face going red slightly.

Peter smiled. 'Don't worry about the eavesdropping, come on,' he held out a hand. 'You wanna start training?'

**And I know this might be a little conflicting and I might have to change the original chapters but this was set just after 'The Battle for Manhattan'. Those coming back either survived the war or are coming back from home as their parents didn't want them taking part in the war.**

**Everyone who is reading this is awesome and should review (I had nothing else to say)**


	13. Chapter 13 The Creed

**So the Thirteenth Chapter.**

**And Skyclaw, Paddy is not Hispanic, he is Irish**

**Ummmm….. um….. um… Anybody out there know what I should say up here? (Other than, everyone reading this is awesome?)**

**~~~ The Creed ~~~**

The gold in the room reflected the fake candle bulbs giving the room a glimmer. The large double king bed sheets were made out of a red silk while its pillows were filled with real feathers. The edges of the mirror were covered in gold leaf. The red crimson carpets gave off the same royal aura which fitted with the rest of the room.

'You sure it's alright to be in here?' Destiny asked looking around the room in apprehension.

Peter shut the door behind him. 'What do you think?'

'No,'

'Exactly,'

Destiny turned her head smiling slightly. 'You really don't care do you?'

Peter shrugged 'Nope, I couldn't care less,'

Destiny frowned slightly 'Why not?'

'Cause the rules were broken when I was born so why should I follow the rules?'

'What rules?' she turned to face him.

'Old ones, and no, I'm not telling you. Come on,' he walked into the middle of the room.

* * *

><p>An ocean gale swept across the deck. Waves crashed against the side sweeping the floor with water. Dark clouds rumbled over the dark water, rain lashing down against the window. Paddy sat on the chair near the desk looking through the double sliding doors out into the carnage. He looked round as the door creaked open.<p>

'I hoped you'd be awake,' Jay walked into the room.

'I'm used to getting not that much sleep,' Paddy turned back to looking through the window into the dense black.

'You and Peter,' Jay said pointedly standing cross-armed.

'What's that supposed to mean?' Paddy turned around in his seat an eyebrow raised.

Jay sat down on the bottom bunk. He stared at Paddy for a moment 'You know Peter,'

'Yeah I do,' Paddy said a bit defensive. This guy is going to poke.

'How?'

Paddy slowly grinned. So that's what this guy was about. 'Well–'

'Don't poke Jay,'

Madison stood in the doorway her arms crossed. A frown covered the usual kind but outgoing (not the shape her face) look.

'We can't trust them, I know,' her face softened slightly 'But give them a chance,'

Paddy shrugged. 'Thanks, but I'm still going to tell you something

'I met Peter ages ago back in Britain. I found out later that he was on the tail of some monster, didn't find out what, but he passed my school when my teachers decided that they didn't want to be human, Dracaenas, Peter fought through them and found me. It took him some time but he got there eventually. Nothing compared to what he is now. At that moment I didn't know what to do so I just tagged along with Peter. Best move I ever made. We travelled Britain together, doing what we could. We picked up other demigods on the way. All of them seen as 'Misfits' by gods. Peter took them all in and proved that everyone could be good at their jobs, just in a different way.

'All of them were brilliant; Jim, the skinny Scottish son of Hephaestus, we worked on a massive bronze eagle for travel and he slipped in between the wires and did all the inside welding, Isaiah, the strong Italian(but he lives in Britain) son of Balanos, he managed to construct an entire log house out of trees he grew in one day, had to a day off after admitted but he proved any Power can be useful,'

* * *

><p>Destiny sat cross-legged on the royal red carpet in the middle of the room listing attentively. Peter continued his eyes closed.<p>

'Titus, Son of Asclepius, he couldn't heal anyone but himself, yet he held off a 100-strong army of Dracaenas in an alley way. Greatest one-sided battle I ever saw. Kecks, son of Iris, has the weirdest personality to date yet thanks to that he can always make us smile and has the ability to create the greatest diversions known to man,' said Peter leaning against the back wall his hands behind his head.

'Has he got the same Powers as me?' Destiny asked leaning forwards slightly.

Peter opened his eyes and grimaced slightly. 'Unfortunately, no. His Powers are holographic projection images and light transportation. Useful for tactical attacks but not in sheer power,' he said rubbing his chin. And for making double rainbows, Peter thought.

'So how can you help me?' Destiny asked leaning back now.

'I can only guess how your power works, but hopefully from there on you can work out yourself,' Peter shrugged his back rubbing against the gold leaf.

'Great,' Destiny muttered placing her hands in her lap.

Peter shuffled away from the wall. His face turned serious 'Right close your eyes,'

Destiny did so. At that moment though, she felt very vulnerable as if nobody was there. Peter's voice seemed to slowly echo, as if he were a long way away.

'Concentrate on the power inside yourself; you are the source of your power. Find the light inside you first,'

Destiny searched inside the depths of her mind for some sort of energy. There, in the middle, was a small glow. She grasped it with her will and felt something, in the palm of her hand. She opened her eyes slightly.

'Destiny,' Peter said sharply. 'Don't lose concentration now,'

Destiny nodded instead of saying anything as she concentrated on her grasp of the Power, a glowing ball of light in her hand. Peter's voice once again sounded a long way off.

'Now, in your mind, think of a shape, any shape, and think of projecting it in front of you,' Peter said slowly.

Destiny focused in her mind on a shape of a cuboid and thought as hard as she could on seeing it in front of her. She opened her eyes a centimetre.

The ball in her hand had turned to a river of light. It flew up in front of her face and filled an outline of a cuboid. It hung there in mid-air, quite harmless. Peter slowly exhaled.

'Well that's a start,' he said leaning back on his hands. Destiny breathed slowly. She'd finally done it.

'Am I going to have to concentrate that hard every time I want to do something?' she asked also leaning back on her hands still breathing slowly.

Peter pushed himself off his hands and leant forwards again 'It'll get easier the more you do it but for now I think you should learn what you can do with it first before you start properly practicing,'

Destiny nodded. And closed her eyes again, bringing her hand forwards.

'Destiny, keep your eyes open for this, I was hoping we could do movement now,'

Destiny opened her eyes and saw that he was grinning slightly. She grinned.

'Right, now move the cube forwards, slowly,' he said carefully. Destiny concentrated but then…

'How?'

Peter shrugged. 'I said I could only teach you the very basics and that was lesson one. I don't know any more than lesson one,'

Destiny glared at him, then stopped. At least she hadn't blown up again, so he was right, it was a start. She smiled but then concentrated again. She imagined the square moving forwards. It did, slowly. Ok she thought. _Move forwards fast. _Peter leaned sideways as the square passed his left shoulder and drove half a centimetre into the gold leaf making bits of it flake off. He studied the damaged done to the wall.

'Interesting, when you become fully capable to call on it and make it do what you want at ease it could be quite powerful,' He turned his head back to her now. Destiny was panting slightly now. 'Just dissipate the energy flow now Destiny, you've done enough for now,'

Destiny shook her head and kept on panting… Crap!Peter sprung forwards and grabbed Destiny by the shoulders.

'Destiny, concentrate! If you don't the magic could tear you apart!' Peter shouted, shaking her. Destiny looked up desperately but just kept on panting. Peter spun round. The box was shaking, giving off a blinding light. Oh cra–

The box exploded.

'Πυκνότητα Φράγμα,' Shouted Peter, thrusting a hand out in front of him. The explosion flew around him harmlessly. But as it curved around him it picked up speed and smashed into Destiny. Thankfully the wind hit her at an angle so she crashed into the bed. Peter lowered his arms slowly.

'I didn't know bed tasted so good,' he muttered getting up.

* * *

><p>'He was the one who started our group. We came across to America and started our own company. The North Face. We made several safe houses across America and held together the best we could. Our main outpost is a 5 story log house, hidden on the Poga Mountain. We got another one on mount Elbert as well just in case,'<p>

'We fight off everything from that outpost though, mainly because everything finds us. A bunch of strong demigods with no magical protection, our scent goes out at least 10 miles if not more. And that's without Peter,'

'But he's not a part of the group anymore, is he?' asked Jay from the bottom bunk. The light bulb overhead swung back and forth slightly as the boat rocked from the waves.

'He still is, he's just on "extended leave" Paddy made inverted commas with his hands 'He gives off a strange scent that make monster both want to stay away from him and eat him at the same time. Think of it as the greatest meal of your life but you know it's poisoned,'

'So he was the leader?' asked Madison from the top bunk, her head in her hands.

'Well… He never put himself in the position of leader or asked any of us to call him that, but we just sort of acted like he was,' Paddy shrugged. 'It's one of those situations where he's really the only one who can have it but he never asked for it in the first place. He left after his scent got too powerful, he didn't want to endanger the group anymore. After that I took over as leader as I was the only who didn't mind doing it,'

'So what's Peter been doing for the past year?' Madison asked shifting.

Paddy shrugged his shoulders again 'Who knows? He hasn't contacted us since he left,'

The 3 of them fell silent. There were too many possibilities, what the hell was Peter?

'Whose Peter's Godly parent,' asked Jay, who leant back against a wall.

Paddy face darkened visibly 'κατάρα άρθρο ένας ο οποίος ξέρω,' putting the first two fingers over his left chest. _Curse the one who knows_ it rang in both Jay and Madison's heads. The darkness in the room grew.

'So… no-one knows?' Madison asked cautiously.

Paddy turned to look at her. 'το Πιστεύω απαγορεύω μας,' he said darkly. _The Creed forbids us_ rang throughout the room_._ They had sworn. Whether they knew or not, they couldn't say.

'Do you know?'

'I only know a saying he taught us. And No before you ask, we'd all rather die than break the creed. It's worse than the Styx for us,' He pointed towards the door. 'Unless you have another question that hasn't got anything to do with my Creed, leave,'

Jay got up, with one final glance towards Paddy, walked out of the room. Madison leapt down from the top of the bunk, landing lightly. She walked out of the room but stopped at the door way looking over her shoulder at Paddy. When he saw him stand up she hurried out of the room and pushed herself next to the wall outside. Who were they? Paddy slammed the door shut. Fools. They knew nothing about this world.

'εμείς βλέπε άρθρο αθέατος,' he said quietly.

**Woooooh. What's going on there?**

**Just a simple please review this time guys(and girls)**


	14. Chapter 14 Crabbing Sucks

**So The Fourteenth Chapter.**

**You all good? Sorry for the wait, but exams, coursework and exams (again) are catching up to me.**

**But I still promise to update every other Friday. Good news though, After the 24****th**** of November I will be able to update every Friday!**

**And one last thing: I have two apologies to make, one, all the Greek you see in the story isn't Ancient Greek it's normal Greek, and two, I have been writing without concentrating and I think my style has deteriorated so I apologize for the quality of my work of previous chapters.**

~~~ Crabbing Sucks ~~~

'The sky is so prewtty!' Paddy face-palmed.

'Who gave Tom caffeine?' he asked. He spotted the cup in Madison's hand and sighed 'You didn't, did you?'

It was morning and Tom was leaning over the edge of the rails with the expression that he had just been hit by a 14 pound lump hammer. Paddy leant against the rail next to him, one hand on Tom's collar, restraining him from going over the rail to the deck below. Madison sat on a lounger, sipping coffee once again. She'd swapped her camp T-shirt for a green one with an awesome painting of a tree on the front of it. Destiny stood beside her, her hair flying everywhere, licking an ice cream. She'd kept her black t-shirt and leather jacket but had changed her jogging bottoms to denim skirt, about an inch longer than her mid-thigh. They were on a cruise ship; why not get a bit of a tan? Jay stood next to Paddy watching Peter on the deck below. The sun glinted off his sunglasses as he shook his black hair.

'What? He asked if he could have a taste and I let him try some, what's the big deal?' Madison asked exasperated.

Paddy sighed. He yanked Tom away from the railings.

'Destiny, slap him for me,'

Madison chocked on her coffee. 'What? Why?' she complained.

'Because at the minute he's no better than a vegetable to us, unless your vegetarian and you want to try eating him,'

'Fine,' Madison muttered, disgruntled. 'Can't we just wait from him to come round?'

'We can see the Port from here, this ship will be docking in half an hour, I'd like to be on the alert as you have no idea what it is to be attacked at any moment. Slap him,' he added to Destiny.

The sound of the slap echoed off the surrounding mountains.

'Argh! Crap! What was that for?' Tom complained rubbing the red mark on his cheek. Destiny giggled and even Madison couldn't suppress a smile.

'Great, great. Now if you'd come this way,' Paddy said patting him on the back. He steered him towards the railing and gently bent Tom over the edge of the railing, where he promptly threw up. The splattering and the complaining sounds reached their Deck. Even Jay looked mildly surprised.

'How'd you know that was going to happen?' he asked pulling down his sunglasses.

'I've worked with a lot of people; you tend to learn what makes similar people sick. Some of them can be pretty funny,' Paddy said rubbing Tom's back. Tom retched again. Fresh splattering and fresh complaining floated up to their deck. Jay turned back to looking at the bottom deck.

'What is he up to?' Jay murmured rubbing his chin. Destiny walked over next to Jay and tried to see Peter.

'Over there,' Jay said pointing towards the very front of the ship.

He sat on the very front of the ship, beyond the railings, looking out towards the harbour. He still wore his black jogging bottoms and white t-shirt which flapped in the wind.

'He's probably either looking for traps, enemies or going over memories or myths. You can try and understand his personality but you'd have already found the answer to the universe before you work it out completely,' Paddy said watching them, still rubbing Tom's back. He could imagine them trying to find out. Great little team of investigators they would be.

'How many of you are there?' Madison asked getting up.

Paddy sighed again. 'I knew we'd come round to this eventually. There are about 40 members if you don't include the British Seven,'

'And if you include the British Seven?' Jay asked still watching Peter.

'Forty-seven…' Paddy said slowly. Seriously?

Jay looked up from the railing feeling that something was wrong. Then he realised and turned back hiding his face. 'Yeah….'

Paddy burst out laughing. Many of the tourists turned their heads in their direction but then turned back to what they were doing. Just a bunch of teenagers.

'You guys crack me up,' Paddy chuckled. 'You would've fitted right in if you'd joined us,' he carried on chuckling. It was only then he stopped Madison asked her next question.

'Why haven't we heard of you before?'

Paddy went silent, as did the space around them. Everything seemed to slow down. Tom, who had finished retching a while back, looked up from the railings.

'We are the _αθέατος_. The Unseen. You haven't seen us because you can't. We don't hide, it's just nobody wants to see us. We are the ones chucked out and never found. Remember how Hephaestus was thrown down a mountain because he was ugly? It doesn't just happen to Gods; demi-gods can be affected like that as well,' Paddy said in a low voice.

'Every one of our members has been neglected because they don't show the traits given off by their Godly parent. They find us embarrassing. We've done nothing but we're kicked out by our parents. Most of us wanted revenge on the Gods but Peter calmed us. It wasn't our fault we were born this way, and we have to understand why the gods did it. We have no resentment towards the gods but we have no love for them either. He showed us that we are better off having the gods around as the world won't be destroyed for fun by them,'

'You were all thrown out?' asked Tom, horrified.

Paddy nodded. 'Every single one of us, a few joined later who weren't thrown out but they followed us when we accidently saved them. Sometimes some of our members just don't have it in them to apply a memory wipe,'

'What were you thrown out for?' asked Jay amazed and horrified at the same time.

'I was thrown out for my inability to use a lyre, make up poems, use a bow and arrow, the fact I can't have prophetic dreams and can't be prophetic. Peter took us all in, and none of us can break the Creed we swore too,' Paddy shrugged.

'Why not?' Destiny asked, leaning on the railing now.

'When we swore, whenever we swear a new member in, Peter asks Horkos to claim the swearing. We're allowed to leave if we want to but the Creed still binds us,'

'Horkos?' Jay asked, pushing himself up onto the railing to sit.

'God of Oaths,' Paddy said, crossing his arms and closing his eyes. 'It's why we're known as the third party,'

'Third?'

'Eh?' Paddy opened his eyes looking genuinely surprised. 'Don't-ch know? Camp half-blood is the first, C–,'

'Paddy,' Peter said sternly. He was standing right in the middle between Paddy and Tom. Tom jumped so much that Peter had to grab his arm before he went over.

'I'm gonna need a word. Excuse us for a second,' Peter punched Paddy in the arm and then walked 20 meters from the group. Paddy followed grumbling slightly. The group watched insistently as Peter explained something to Paddy. They started walking back. The entire group tried too looked away nonchalantly butt they might have as well tried to look like they'd sat on red-hot coals, they probably already knew.

'So were not allowed to tell anyone?' Paddy asked Peter as they walked back.

'Unless the Gods tell us otherwise, no. Unless you actually want them to have proper reason to blow us up. And you know why they would never blow us up,' Peter said with grim satisfaction.

'Because they love and hate us at the same time. We're so useful and so helpful yet the Gods wish they could just do it themselves rather than have us doing it,' Paddy sighed. He sat on the railing and then almost immediately fell off it as the intercom blasted out a voice right below him.

'We will be docking in 20 minutes, please get your luggage ready for departure,' the Intercom blasted out.

'Hey we aren't above any of Hephaestus's forges, right?'

'Paddy, please right yourself before ask a question,'

Paddy flipped upwards from hanging upside down on the railing.

'Then what's that?' he asked pointing. The group looked where he was pointing.

On the surface of the water, bubbles collected. Big ones. The normal still deep blue water of the Lake Erie was rippling outwards from the bubbles. Then ripples started moving awkwardly, they clashed sideway, breaking their own perfect circle. A whirlpool started to form around the bubbles.

'Do you get the feeling…' Tom started

'I've had that feeling for 5 minutes now,' Paddy said dropping off the rail. He unclipped his crossbow and a box from his belt. Peter pulled out his hilts. The group followed suit, pulling out their various weapons.

'I thought you said you weren't any good at archery,' Jay said nodding towards Paddy's crossbow.

'This is crossbowman-ship. Completely different to archery,' He said looking out at the rapidly expanding whirlpool. He inclined his head at it. 'What'd you think?'

'Who knows? Could be a boat containing a horde of monsters, could be a sea monster. We'll find out soon enough,' Peter shrugged.

They watched the expanding whirlpool. It was now so wide you couldn't see the bottom. It would reach the ship soon.

The whirlpool exploded. Water flew up 100 foot into the air. In front of them, a wall of white water, blocking their view, was closing in fast. The group clung onto the rails as the water crashed down onto the boat sweeping away the deck chairs and sun loungers. What was in that whirlpool? Tom didn't think it was anything good. The water settled.

'O-kay,' Jay said slowly. He'd never seen anything like this before. Madison's coffee dropped out her numb hands.

There, in front of them, sat a crab. It had everything, the pincers, the sideway claws for walking, the rock hard shell. It was patchwork blue; shades of the ocean were splattered all over it. The only thing that made it different from a crab was the fact it had 12 eyes.

And the fact that it was same size as their cruise liner.

'You haven't forgotten the combination moves that you can only use with me, have you Paddy?' Peter started unclipping the grappling claw on his right forearm guard. Paddy grinned. Peter passed him his grapple claw. Paddy frowned for a second then shrugged and clipped it onto his left arm. The crab raised a pincer.

'Hey what're yo–,' Jay started.

Paddy jumped onto the railing then pushed of into the air. Peter jumped onto the railing, pushed off and met Paddy mid-air. He turned sideways slightly and kicked out. Paddy pushed off Peter's kick and was launched into the air, immediately firing his crossbow, while Peter landed and rolled back onto the deck.

'Guys, what the hell?' Madison shouted.

'Gotta get rid the eyes first; we just have to hope that it doesn't have a good sense of smell,' Peter shouted skidding to a halt. 'Jay! Get that bow out. Try and find a weak link in its armour,'

'But Paddy won't be able to take out all of its eyes, I'll help him,' Jay said.

'No. Paddy's got a double shot crossbow. He'll be able to take out two eyes with every shot,'

'But it's got 12 eyes!' Jay shouted back.

'That's why there a thing called extra ammo!' Paddy's voice rang down onto the deck.

The Crab gargled in pain. Two of its eyes had already gone and more crossbow blots were coming. It thrashed about, a pincer slammed on top of the bottom end of the ship, ripping the back clean off. The waves made by its wild movements slammed into the side of the ship. The group on the ship grabbed onto the railings for support.

'Jay! Find a weak spot!' Peter shouted. 'I'm gonna climb onto it!'

'Are you crazy!' Madison shouted.

'You got any better ideas?'

'If you're going then I'm going,' Tom shouted. 'Jay, hurry up and find us a weak spot!'

'How are we going to get on?' Destiny shouted, her grip slipping on the wet railings.

'When a pincer slams down near enough, jump onto it. We'll run along its arm to the main body,'

Jay got up, put one leg through the bars of the railing, and started firing off arrows, trying to find a chink in the armour. Paddy came down past the boat. Then flew back up again.

'The pendulum effect,' Peter said answering Tom's unasked question as they held onto the rail as the boat swayed back and forth. 'Using the speed from going down, he simply fires off the gauntlet at an angle and does a massive curve till it become a full 180,'

'Wooo-hooo! Flaming shots time! 20 points for every eye, right Peter?' He shouted.

'Paddy! Stop being a dick!' Peter shouted up to him.

Paddy turned. 'I'll be fine,' he shouted back. A pincer smashed into his back. He slammed into the ocean. Peter face-palmed.

'Jay, take out the last 2 eyes will you, we'll find a weak spot when we get onto it,' Peter sighed. Jay complied, taking out an eye instantaneously. The crab gargled again trying to find the new source of pain. A claw slammed down on the boat 5 feet from them. Tom wondered what the mortals were seeing now.

Peter wasted no time getting on the pincer. He'd already started running along the arm by the time Destiny and Tom had got there. They both jumped onto the pincer. It was 8 foot long and 6 foot wide. A car wouldn't have a problem fitting on it. It started the move. With them on it.

'Stab your weapon into the pincer and try to hang on. It's got an Exoskeleton so it won't go crazy if you stab its armour,' Peter shouted back to them. He reached the middle of the crab's arm, drawing a sword.

**I tried to make this complete and have some humour in it. I'm trying to improve.**

**Question, to everyone reading this, which chapter is my worst? And be honest guys (and girls), even if you say Chapter 13 is the worst piece of crap I've ever seen, I'll be happy with that to work on it. (I believe that chapter 13 is my worst chapter)**

**Can anybody suggest this story to more people so I can get more comments on what people think and how to improve it?**


	15. Chapter 15 Bermuda Shorts

**So the Fifteenth Chapter. Guys I'm sorry I though it posted this and it turns out I didn't**

**Battle chapters are awesome, are they not?**

**And Skyclaw, your profile page was… interesting to say the least. At the minute I can't work out whether you're male or female because your profile page is so...**** different.**

**And Apollo's Favourite daughter, please no more Haikus**

~~~ Bermuda Shorts ~~~

Tom and Destiny felt this wasn't their best day. Having a free ride on a cruise ship. Great. Being attacked by a killer crab the same size as the cruise ship. Not so great. Tom rammed his sword into the pincer and gripped the handle with both hands as the crab drew the pincer back for another slam. Destiny wasn't so lucky. She rammed her dagger into the pincer but the blade didn't hold well enough. As the pincer rose for another blow, the blade slid out. Destiny cried out, raking the pincer with her fingernails, but slid off, desperately struggling to reach Tom's outstretched hand.

'Destiny!' Tom bellowed as she fell, dropping from Tom, falling past Peter. Destiny screamed as she fell. She fell past Peter, reached out towards him, then it went black.

Peter's feet slipped. He stabbed his sword into the armour of the crab to deal with the new weight. 10 foot below him, Destiny hung, suspended by a rope of light. He grasped the rope with his left hand and yanked. The pincer reached it optimum height just above its own head.

'If you're gonna do something, Do it now!' Tom shouted down. His sword was starting to creak.

Peter caught Destiny by the collar, pulled his sword out of the armour, and sliced downwards through the gap, smashing the sword through the elbow.

If a crab could ever screech in pain, this was about the time. Tom yanked his sword out of the pincer and slammed onto the crab's head. Tom didn't sit still long enough to wonder about the pincer. He ran towards the edge and smashed his sword into the armour once more the sword slowly cutting through the armour. He landed in the indent of the arm (where the arm comes out of the body) spotted Peter running towards him. He carried Destiny.

'Whoa, what's with the golden rope?' Tom asked as the placed their backs against the side of the crab. Peter looked down at Destiny's sleeping figure. A bright golden rope was tied round both Peter's and Destiny's wrists.

'Looks like she did it out of her own conscience, she wouldn't be able to do that if she tried thinking about it. But for her that used up too much energy as she's not used to it. That's why she's out for count,' he said looking at the rope. It slowly faded. 'Any idea how the others are handling?' Tom looked over at the boat.

He had to admit, they were doing a good job. With its eyes taken out the crab swung wildly, smashing into the boat at random places. The back end had completely gone now and the tip of the front wasn't there anymore but Jay and Madison still went at it. Jay stood firing off arrows at what bit of flesh he could see while Madison pulled him out the way with her whip any time a pincer smashed down.

'They'll be fine for another 10 minutes I'd say. Half the boats already gone and the mortals have already jumped ship,' Tom answered back scanning the wreckage.

'Great. Slice off the arm then meet me up top,' Peter shifted his eyes to looking at the top shell.

'The entire arm! It's at least double the size it is at the elbow!'

'Fine, we'll do it together,' Peter put Destiny's unconscious form on his shoulder. He pulled out a hilt, the blade grew quickly. Peter looked towards Tom and nodded. Tom nodded back. Lifting the sword upwards with both hands, he swung downward smashing into the flesh.

SNAP!

Tom lifted up the hilt from the crabs arm. He grinned sheepishly at Peter. The blade had snapped completely off embedded in the crab's arm leaving only the hilt.

'Throw it away,' He said jerking his head towards the water. 'Here,' He shifted Destiny carefully off his shoulder and passed her to Tom. He raised his own sword and slammed it onto Tom swords cutting through ¾ of the arm. The arm fell slowly, rather like a just chopped tree, and Tom had the random urge to shout "Timber!"

Peter pulled out his other hilt, grew the blade, and stabbed one into shell. He ran up the side of the shell, reached the sword hilt, kicked off it, then stabbed the other sword above him. He slid off the shell and landed lightly.

'Right,' He took Destiny off Tom. 'You go up first, I'll pass up Destiny, then I'll come up and collect my swords on the way,'

Tom grabbed onto the first hilt. Pushing himself up, he placed a foot on it, the quickly pushed off as he could stay balanced for long. His hands smacked into the upper hilt. He hurriedly pulled up and pushed off onto the crab top shell. He turned around and reached down.

'Can you reach?' Peter asked holding Destiny up.

Tom's fingers caught nothing but air. 'Nope,'

Peter sighed. 'Tom, Catch!' he shouted upwards. Destiny hurtled upwards slamming into him. They both slid along the top shell only coming to a stop when Tom pounded his feet into the shell in front of him. Peter's hand appeared, stabbing a sword into the armour. Peter pulled himself up, panting slightly.

'Let's just hope this is the right place,' he muttered getting up.

He walked forwards, stopping at the middle of the shell right at the front, two foot away from falling off. He flipped his swords in his hands so he held his swords backwards, blades pointed down. He held both above his head, then drove them into the shell armour. He strained turning the swords in a circle cutting a hole in the shells armour and below. Pulling out the sword furthest away, he shrank the blade and forced the hilt back into his pocket.

'Smell the lovely smell of the ocean,' he muttered again. He pushed sideways on his sword bringing the blade out flat. Out of the hole came the stench from several hells. As the stench reached Tom he almost puked again. Dead skin matter, bio-degraded seaweed and guts, thickening the air to a humid level. All hung in the air, almost tangible, as well as on the end of Peter's sword as he threw the contents off the top of the crab.

'Grweat,' Tom said holding his nose. He wished he had a brought along a clamp for his nose. 'Wha ow?'

Peter, gripping his nose with his hand, held up three fingers. Three seconds later someone swung up and landed on the top shell.

'You guys miss– uggahhh…' Paddy promptly fell off again, grabbing his nose. The grappling claw appeared once again pulling Paddy up.

'Bloody hell! What curse have you set upon us all?' Paddy coughed.

'Just chuck a packet of Greek fire down the hole will you,' Peter said pointing to the hole.

'You know me too well,' Paddy grinned, still holding his nose with one hand.

He pulled out a small packet that was tied at the top with small string. He stood over the hole his arm stretched out. The packet started smouldering. Paddy dropped the packet into the hole, turned, and walked away shoving his hands in his pockets. Smoke rose slowly from the hole. Then the explosion happened.

The tremor shook the entire crab. The crab went still, then, slowly, it collapsed, all of its legs giving way. Tom looked outwards towards the ocean, the waves harmlessly coming into the port.

'Paddy, your jogging bottoms are on fire,' Peter said.

Paddy looked at his jogging bottoms. He pulled his right hand quickly out of his pocket. Tom wished he'd brought sunglasses to look at his hand. It glowed so bright it looked like the sun.

'You kept a packet in your pocket, didn't you?' Peter sighed.

'Yes, crap crap crap,' Paddy started patting his jogging bottoms desperately.

Peter threw his sword to Paddy. Paddy caught it gratefully and pushed it through his pocket cutting the jogging bottoms clean off. He slid the sword underneath them and flung outwards. Green fire was now billowing from the jogging bottoms. They exploded with a cloud of green smoke above them. Paddy sank down onto the top of the crab breathing slowly. He threw Peter's sword back to him and lay backwards on the shell.

'You're going need something to where on your legs. You can't go around all day with only your boxers on,' Peter said sheathing a sword back into its hilt. 'There's still part of the ship left, I'll go tell Madison and Jay to come over here and I'll try and find you something, meanwhile don't forget to pick up the spoils. They could be pretty useful.' He dove off the top of the crab, falling through the air then diving into the sea. He swam slowly towards the wreckage of the ship.

A groan came from next to Tom.

'Huh? What going on? Where's the massive crab? Paddy, why are you wearing only your boxers?' Destiny questioned rubbing her eyes.

'The crab's dead. We're sitting on it at this very minute. And Paddy made his leggings explode,' Tom listed off. 'Madison and Jay should be with us in a minute and Peter's just gone to find something for Paddy,'

'Woah, wait. What happened to me?' Destiny asked closing her eyes and rubbing her temples.

'You finally used your Power properly,'

'How?'

'You create a golden rope that latched itself onto Peter. He thinks you did it out of desperation and you blacked out because you're not used to using it,' Tom sighed leaning backwards and closing his eyes.

'Wouldn't do that if I was you,' Paddy stood up and stretched. 'We gotta look for the spoils,'

'Spoils?' Destiny asked still rubbing her temples.

'Yeah, Spoils of War. When this thing fades all the spoils are gonna appear and drop into the ocean if we're not quick enough. Peter's not the only one going swimming,' Paddy walked towards the edge of the shell. 'Look, it's happening already,' he pointed towards one of its legs.

Tom and Destiny crawled to the side. The claws near the bay were turning to dust slowly making its way up the body.

'So what are we looking for?' Tom asked.

'Massive Claws!' Destiny said.

'One, No, Two, Stop being hyper,' Paddy said smiling. 'Everything will be scaled down so it could be something that might fit in the palm of your hand,'

'How are we meant to see something that small from up here?'

'We'll just have to be quick,' the shell beneath them disintegrated. Paddy grinned, momentarily hanging in the air. 'Told you,'

They plummeted towards the sea.

Destiny flipped over while she was falling. This wasn't the first time today she was about to take the plunge so it wasn't anything new. She spotted something above her, falling with them. Whatever it was, it hadn't disintegrated so she decided she was going to grab it. Her dagger was probably at the bottom of the Lake anyway.

They plunged into the water.

The water was cool, thankfully, and clean. They swam around trying to spot a spoil. Destiny saw the one she'd seen earlier fall, hammering Tom over the head then splashing into the water. Destiny swam over pulling Tom out of the water, with a slightly dazed look, and grabbing onto what seems like a massive frisbee. Paddy swam alongside them until they all reached the sandbanks. A wall of boulders stood between them and the sidewalk where people walked along, buying ice-creams and enjoying the sun. Their feet found ground but they couldn't see a way to climb the boulders.

'Need a hand?'

Madison and Jay stood on top of the boulders, grinning. After they were all up they sat down on the boulders lounged back, resting from the fight. It's not every day you fight a giant killer crab.

'You guys seen Peter?' Paddy asked looking out over the water.

'Yeah, he said he'll be over in a minute,' Madison said nursing quite a few bruises.

'Other than that, anyone got any spoils?' Paddy asked looking around at them.

'I got this,' Destiny threw him the massive frisbee.

'Woah,' Paddy said catching the frisbee. 'A shield made out of the hardest crab shell. Nice find. Put a grip on it and it'll be brilliant,' He threw it back to Destiny.

'Is it off any worth?' she asked putting the shield down.

'You gotta be kidding me. It's light, it can be mechanised and it's nearly impenetrable. It's bloody brilliant! It's much better than any of our metals as its natural. You're not thinking off selling it are you?' Paddy asked incredulously.

'What else can I do with it? Unless anyone else wants it?' She asked looking around at the group. They all shook their heads.

Paddy shook his head. 'Retrievers, Keepers. Whoever picks it up first, it's theirs are far as we're concerned. You decide what to do with it,'

'We're…,' Destiny pondered for a minute 'Say; could your guild use it?'

Paddy looked slightly taken aback 'Yeah, but you're not going to give it to us for free are you?'

Destiny shrugged 'Why not?' She threw the shield at him. He caught it one-handed.

'You sure?' His hand was still holding it in the air in case he needed to throw it back.

'Just accept it already otherwise she'll shove it down your throat,'

Peter jumped from another boulder, then landed on their boulder lightly. He chucked a small leather bag, some shorts and some sandals at Paddy then motioned for them all to stand.

'Come on, no time waste, we got another train journey,' he said jumping onto the side walk. 'But you can buy an ice cream on the way,'

Paddy pulled the shorts off his face. He looked at them then gave a_ you cannot be serious-_look at Peter.

'Bermuda short? Really?' he asked exasperated getting up to put them on.

'Hey, I brought you matching sandals, what more could you want?'

**The sweet taste of success… Did succeed in something?**

**Come on guys! Only 40 Reviews? Please just review more.**

**And Please re-read the story as I have updated the entire thing (and spell checked it properly this time) there are quite a few small changes. Not really that big a different on the story but it might make your understanding of it a bit better.**

**And Everyone I know Karkinos has been used in the Percy Jackson series but I thought of using it before I actually read the Last Olympian and once I'd made my plan for the story it was too late to change it. And besides I have a reason I'm using it. All will be explained...**


	16. Chapter 16 Kill or be Killed

**So the Sixteenth Chapter. Going well isn't it? If only Rick Riordan could read this.**

**Skyclaw, I like your long and random reviews. Thank you for the compliments on different Powers, I have a few passive ones you might like coming up. Yes, I have read Son of Neptune. **

**And too anybody out there, I am Male. And no we are not a protected species. Shame, cause we're dying out slowly on Fanfiction.**

**~~~ Kill or be Killed ~~~**

Madison had no idea how he did it. Fighting off a massive crab, sure why not? Why not fight off two massive crabs? How did he do it? How did **they** do it? They'd just fought a crab the size of a cruise liner and yet not 20 minutes after they'd defeated it they were on their feet again, walking way ahead of the group, Paddy urging them on while Peter stayed silent, usually leaning against some wall looking around at their surroundings as if another attack was going to jump out of the nearest kiosk and attack them with unhealthy chocolate ice-cream and 99flakes. Madison almost wished the last part of that happened but was happy when Peter stopped and allowed them to buy ice-creams. Something was up though. Something silent was going on but what it was and whether it was good or not, the original group didn't know.

They walked along the edge of Lake Erie, taking in the sun, until they reached the train station. Peter didn't wander off this time off this time but stood right behind Paddy, being slightly smaller, as they showed year passes when they bought their tickets. Destiny was pretty sure Peter's real name was 'Gazzer Gerrof' and Paddy's defiantly wasn't 'Dunksh Hiccup' but the group let it slide. They got on the train immediately and found two tables, on either side of the corridor, like last time.

'This'll be our last train ride guys. The High speed rail corridor train only goes up to Minneapolis St. Paul's,' Peter said sitting on the table across from them while Paddy sat down on one of the seats closest to the corridor. He threw the Karkinos shield onto the seat next to him.

'So what do we do from there?' Tom asked.

Peter shrugged. 'Improvise,'

'Ah…. do you remember the last time we fought a crab that big Peter? Looking back now it makes me nostalgic,' Paddy sighed sitting back in his seat.

'Paddy. We've never fought a giant crab before,'

'Really?' Paddy asked surprised. 'What was it we did two summers ago?'

'That was when we took down the Dragon Sybaris,'

'Oh yeah, the dragon that used to terrorize the mountains around Delphi. Three summers ago?'

'That was wrestling the Ethiopian Cetus into submission in the Labrador sea just off Canada,'

'Two winters ago?'

'A friendly fight with the Panotii leader,' Peter rubbed his chin with his right hand. 'He was bloody massive for a Panotii,'

'The what?'

'Panotii, according to Pliny they lived on an island off Scythia but the thing you'd probably want to know is that they have ears as big as their own bodies,' Peter said sliding off the table.

'The leader told us they used them for sleeping bags,' Paddy said slightly dreamily.

Peter smiled slightly. 'I'm glad you haven't changed Paddy. Destiny, wanna come and train some more while Paddy gets over his portable sleeping addiction?'

Destiny smiled. 'Sure,' She got up and followed Peter down the corridor passing the train attendant who was pushing a trolley covered with food.

'And No caffeine for Tom unless you guys have a spare set of dry clothes,' Peter's voice shouted down the corridor. Tom pouted slightly which made the group chuckle.

'Have you guys really done all those things you were talking about?' Madison asked still chuckling slightly.

'Yep. But those are just the medium fun jobs that we do every six months,' Paddy said. He ordered a Fanta off the train attendant. Madison ordered a coffee whilst Tom ordered a coke, looking reproachfully at the coffee in Madison's hand.

'The medium jobs?' Tom asked looking round the trolley.

'Every six months the British Seven split in to two groups, three on each side and one with a stopwatch. Each team takes an A* job and then it's a race to see who can finish their job the quickest,' Paddy explained.

'Whoa, wait. Job?' Jay asked leaning his elbows on the table to join into the conversation.

Paddy smiled. 'How do you think we survive? We're a guild that'll take up jobs for anyone. That's from Gods to Amazons to Centaurs to Spirits to Seers. We have a jobs board for any company, God, Group, anyone who wants a job done, they just have to send in a poster saying what they want, the requirements and the rewards and we'll stick it up on the jobs board,'

'Anyone?' Tom said pointedly raising an eyebrow.

'Okay, anyone that's heard of us,' admitted Paddy. 'We don't discriminate but if something says 'Kill Humans, They All Must Die!' we usually try and find the person or thing that sent it and kill them,'

'What? Just go up to them and kill them?' Madison asked slightly shocked.

'Yeah. If they're killing mortals surely we should kill them before they can?' Paddy snapped open the top of the can and took a sip. 'You'd be rubbish in the Roman, Greek and Spartan armies,'

'Why?' asked Jay leaning his elbow on the table and his head in his hand.

'Because you hesitate. If you hesitate in battle you can be certain that the enemy wont. You kill monsters because they turn into dust and they'll eventually reform. You, subconsciously, don't think you're killing them, you're just "Sending them away for a while" What if you were face with another Demigod like you and you had to kill him or he'd kill you. Even the greatest people are affected. For example, Jackson hesitated when a hellhound jump at him. He hesitated because of the relation he has with his own hellhound,' Silence greeted his words. Paddy took another sip.

'How the hell do you know that?' Jay demanded. Paddy smiled.

'Because I was there. It was the only contact we've ever had from Peter when he started moving too fast for us to keep up with him. He sent a letter forbidding us to be a part of the war. The Fates can't see us and he said this prophecy was full or something like that. But anyway I was there and I watched. But Jackson steeled himself and he managed to push past it. Kill or be Killed. That's the way it is. It's been taught to us and it's true. No-one in our guild hesitates, nobody should. Peter doesn't hesitate even when facing down comrades, so now none of us will,'

'You mean Peter has killed?' Tom asked quietly.

Paddy nodded solemnly. 'A previous comrade,'

'Why?' asked Jay frowning while Madison covered her mouth with her hands.

'He betrayed us,' said Paddy darkly 'To understand the fury that the guild felt at the time, well… you're not part of our guild so I suppose you wouldn't understand. But Peter… well…' Paddy rubbed the back of his head; this was obviously a rough spot. 'Yeah… he lost control of his Powers and hunted him down in his rage. He almost went beyond the point of not coming back,'

'Not coming back?' Jay asked sternly 'What'd you mean?'

Paddy's mind worked fast. 'He'd lose himself in his own emotions literally speaking,' he drank from the can again.

There was something more to that but Jay let it go. They were hiding something, they always were. Peter even admitted to not telling them stuff. Well, at least he was honest.

'Besides, you weren't lucky enough to see our full Power this morning,' Paddy drained his can and chucked it onto the table.

'That wasn't your full power?' Tom asked, his eyebrows still raised. He wished that they would show or say something complete at one time.

'Call it habit. Even Peter hasn't got rid of the habit yet, I could sense that,' Paddy chuckled. 'Whenever we get a new recruit after training them for several months we usually put them in a dangerous situation where their lives are at risk,'

'Why?' Madison asked as though he were mad.

'So they can learn what it's like in a desperate situation and they learn how to survive,' Paddy finished looking like this was completely reasonable. Jay nodded minutely.

Peter walked back down the corridor and sat on the table again, sighing.

'I've taught her all I can, Paddy you go see if you can teach her something you'll probably have the closest connection to her Power,' he slid of the table and crashed into the seat opposite Paddy.

'How am I close to her Power?'

You represent the Sun, she represents light. You do the maths,'

Paddy got up, muttering something but the word 'slacker' was defiantly in there, and slouched down the corridor. Peter looked over at them.

'What?'

They quickly re-arranged their faces but-

'Too late,'

Peter sat with a _Give-it-up_ look and had crossed his arms.

'C'mon, what's up?'

Madison's mouth opened but no sound came out. She looked down at her own mouth and closed it quickly. Peter sighed, put his elbow on the table and leant his head on his hand.

'Let me guess. Paddy told you I killed someone,' he summarised. They nodded silently.

'And this is such a big deal, why?' he asked bored throwing a hand out in questioning manner.

'How could you do it?' asked Tom quietly. He was shaking minutely.

'Because if I didn't he would still be feeding information even if I smashed him to a pulp and I was mad. We swore an oath and he broke it, simple as,' Peter recited the lines in a bored voice as though he'd said them before.

'But how?' Madison asked her hands still in front of her mouth.

'Look, you guys are just ordinary people, you eat, you work, and you sleep. You're born with natural instincts that recognise your kin. You'll always hesitate if you go to kill another demigod or human being. I guess not so much gods for you lot because you know they'll come back. But I pushed though instinct, I killed. I'll admit that I was helped by my rage at the time but even if you hate someone you'll still hesitate. I pushed through the wall and killed, alright? Just learn to accept it,' Peter muttered the last bit and turned back, facing the seat opposite him putting his legs up upon the table.

The group remained muted. Silence crept in and took over the surroundings. Slowly, Peter closed his eyes, curling up his legs up onto his seat and leaning backwards into the chair. A metal can was flung across the corridor and smacked him in the forehead.

'No sleeping until you tell me your thoughts on that thing we fought,' Paddy landed heavily in his chair. 'Connection and Co-ordination remember? You used to tell us that all the time. C'mon, what are your thoughts?' he asked slapping his hand down on the table. Destiny walked in quietly and sat down in her seat.

'The closest I could think to a giant crab is Karkinos but there are two problems with that theory. One, Karkinos was killed in the Titan War which ended 6 days ago and so he couldn't have reformed that quickly because he's a Constellation monster and they usually take ages to reform. The Second, No way is Karkinos that big,' Peter sighed, his eyes still closed.

'How big would he be normally?' Madison asked pushing her hair out of her face.

'The top of him would reach your waist. Which asks the question, Was that really Karkinos? And if it was, who brought him back from the stars and made him that big?' posed Peter throwing his hands apart, still refusing to open his eyes.

Silence followed. Everybody looked at each other. What was that thing? Why did it attack them? And who has the Power, to bring back stars and make them this Powerful?

'Even worse, someone knows what we're doing,' growled Paddy. 'Peter I think–,'

Peter snored lightly. Paddy closed his mouth slowly.

'Damn fool. When will you learn to take a break, you idiot,' Paddy said quietly, smiling. He leant back, crossing his arms and closing his eyes.

'Makes them actually seem part-human doesn't it,' muttered Jay turning back in his seat.

'Heard that,'

The group laughed as Paddy smiled, his eyes still closed. The sky slowly turned black as day revolved into night. Each of the group slowly clocked off (Fell asleep) until all that was left was the sound of someone laughing in the distance.

A manic, maniac, screeching, laugh.

**Remember guys and girls, every Friday (hopefully) I will update now because I have completed my exams(For now)**


	17. Chapter 17 Tyche

**So The Seventeenth Chapter. Sometimes I lose heart and don't want to carry on but your reviews guys and girls make me go on. Thank you.**

**1000 hits guys and girls. Sweet going. Let's get it to 2000, but only if you want to.**

**~~~ Tyche ~~~**

Jay woke groggily on the 3rd day as the _Click-clack _of the rails slowed down. He felt pain on the side of his head. Groaning, he pushed himself up and looked where his head was. He quickly scrambled backwards off his seat and landed onto the floor of the corridor. He sat in the corridor breathing hard. He'd have to clean the dribble off Tom's T-shirt later. He pushed himself up off the floor and looked around. Paddy's and Peter's seats were empty but the shield was still there. The train went over a switch in rail and jerked, Destiny's head rolled onto Madison's shoulder. A groan escaped from her lips as her hand came up to push herself off Madison.

'What gives?' she moaned putting her head in her hands leaning her elbows on the table.

'Good timing, we're here,' Jay yawned.

'Where are Paddy and Peter?' Destiny rubbed her eyes open.

'Sheesh always about them isn't it?' Jay slumped into the chair and crossed his arms, looking out the window.

Jay sensed a glare directed towards him and was glad he was looking the other way.

'What is with you and them? Just because they're two important people part of a secret organisation makes them untrustworthy?' She paused 'Okay that does sound slightly suspicious,'

'Have they ever answered a question straight?'

'No,' Destiny admitted. 'But they've fought alongside us; Peter even helped me with my Powers. What have they done that could possibly have anything to do with betraying us now?'

'Other than not being here?' Jay jerked his thumb at the opposite seat.

Destiny shrugged and kicked her white combat boots off and put her feet on top of the table. Her skirt slid down her thigh slightly and Jay wished she'd push it up but bit his lip. Instead he asked the question he hoped would derail her side of the argument.

'You know Peter has killed before?'

Destiny watched him for a second then looked out the window with a faraway look in her eyes. She swung her head so her golden hair fell over her right shoulder.

'I do. Well, I guessed. He just has that look, that aura. You can see it in his eyes. He wants to protect those close to him, even if that means killing. It doesn't change anything though; he's going to help us. I know we can trust him,'

'Why don't you say that when he's here?' Jay raised an eyebrow.

'Because that would defeat the object of arguing different opinions about a person behind their back so that they aren't offended,' said a voice.

Paddy leant his elbow on the top of Jay's seat as he stood in the train's corridor. He looked mildly disappointed.

'You're awake, damn. Can't give the wet fish procedure,'

'Wet fish procedure?' Jay asked carefully with an eyebrow raised.

'Yeah, we slap a wet fish across your face to wake you up. Can't do it now you're awake,' He paused looking thoughtful. He grinned mischievously

'Unless you two are as cruel as we are?' He produced two wet fish from a sack on his belt. Jay grinned at Destiny and she grinned back, whipping her feet off the table.

The squelchy wet slap was music to Paddy's ears. Two long groans proved they were awake.

'Gods above that itches,' Madison muttered as she and Tom rubbed the sides of their faces. Tom pressed his cheek against the cool glass while the other three laughed, squirming in their seats while Paddy landed on an opposite seat's armrest. The train came to a complete halt outside the station. They got off and walked across the platform as rain clouds were seen through the plastic see-through roof, rolling ominously across the sky. Destiny walked up beside Paddy.

'Where's Peter?' she asked while weaving in and out other groups of walkers. Paddy glanced at her with a _Come-On _look.

'You've known Peter for at least three days now and you haven't guessed where he is?' he asked back tightening the strap that held the crab shell shield onto his back.

'So where was he when we all woke up?' asked Tom catching up with them.

'On the top of the train,'

'What?' Madison, Tom, Destiny and Jay all asked in shocked chorus.

Paddy chuckled silently and slipped through another large crowd. The group wove through the crowd after him. Tom was almost glad they lost their backpacks as his squeezed through a gap he shouldn't have been able to. He regretted it almost immediately when he smelled himself. He pressed the side of his cargos as he walked. His wallet he'd received from Chiron was still there. The crowd ended, with Peter standing next to the back exit to the platforms of the railway ticket building. Paddy appeared out of another crowd and stood next to him. The group caught up with them and they proceeded through a marble building and out into Minneapolis-St. Pauls.

'We're lost aren't we?' Madison asked after half an hour.

They'd walked round the entire edge of the city through back-alleys into the town centre and then over the bridge which connected the two cities. They passed skyscrapers, banks, shops, dodged cars and almost ended getting flattened by a falling stack of 12ft high crates as Madison accidently pulled the unloading lever.

'Come on let's get some breakfast, you guys haven't eaten properly for ages,' Peter motioned with his hand to an outside café. They sat down on the edge of the café's seats, eagerly picking up the menus.

Half an hour later each of them leant backwards in their seat feeling warm and refreshed. Jay had his head in one hand as he leant his elbow on the table. Tom sat with his feet on another chair sipping on Fanta but his eyes constantly flicked back towards Madison's coffee. Madison leant forwards, both arms on the table, resting her head in them. Destiny sat back looking at the traffic, both hands clasped around a cup of coffee. Paddy hadn't bothered with buying anything but pulled a bottle off his belt. He'd offered some to Peter but he waved it away with his hand and had pulled out his own bottle out of one of his pockets. Madison wondered how he managed to keep a hilt in there as well but didn't ask.

Peter took another swig of his bottle then wiped his mouth with the back of his arm.

'Paddy can you sense something?' He asked slipping the bottle back into his pocket.

'Tingly, Itchy or Prang?' He asked putting his bottle to his lips.

'With what you're drinking I wouldn't know what you're feeling at the minute,' muttered Peter. 'Does it matter? Can you feel anything?'

Paddy lowered his bottle and clipped it back onto his belt. He closed his eyes for a second then opened them.

'Yeah I feel it,' He glanced around him. 'Can you pin-point it?'

Peter pointed. 'The Casino,'

On the opposite side of the road stood a big, tall, almost glass like building. The black marble-like material surrounding the giant glass window, which went all the way to the top, gave the building an almost royal glow to it as if saying "all those who don't even have a million, go away"

'Great… well I'll see you guys in a minute,' Paddy said unclipping his bottle again as Peter got up from his chair and stretched.

'Not coming?' Jay asked also following suit.

'The person you'll meet, well… let's just say we don't meet eye to eye,' Paddy grimaced placing his bottle on the table. 'I'll do sentry duty instead,'

'What does that include?' Madison asked putting her coffee down.

'Sitting here looking out for enemies,' Paddy yawned throwing out his arms stretching. 'Though I doubt any will come in this place with all the mortals running around the place,'

'I'll stay with Paddy then,' Tom said throwing his can with perfect precision into the bin, watching the lid spin around on its hinge.

'Lazy prick,' Paddy muttered half-heartedly. Tom grinned slightly. Jay, Destiny, Madison and Peter walked towards the Casino, dodging the traffic as they crossed the crossways to get to it. Peter pushed open the glass front door, silently passing a note to the guard who gave him a small wink.

'The fake note trick. Nobody checks the note because they try to keep it a secret. Works every time,' Peter muttered to the rest of the group as they walked inside.

The inside didn't expend on the flashy stuff. It was a lit by dim lamps and actual chandeliers. People talked in hushed voices around table so that the main sounds were the shuffle of cards or the spinning of the roulette wheel. Each table had people crowded around them. Chip Changers sat in the furthest corner behind desks chatting to one another. A bar stood in the corner to right of the entrance with people sitting hunched over, sipping small steaming drinks. Peter nodded towards the one on the very end. The woman sipped on a small glass which had a cherry bobbing around in the liquid. They walked over to her.

'Well,' the woman purred out. 'Look what we have here. 4 demigods. Yet the other two are outside are they not? But for those who are here,' She snapped her fingers a door next to the end of the bar opened. 'I will offer my hospitality,'

She lifted herself gracefully of the chair and walked through the door. Jay gave Peter a quizzical look. He just shrugged and they walked in after her.

The room was brightly lit with candles. Red covered everything. Red carpet, red sofas, red wallpapers, red velvet table. The only two things that weren't red were the chandelier, and the woman.

The woman wore black. She wore a long tight black latex dress that went below her knees and accentuated her body. On her hands were long arm-length black gloves. She wore black high heels on her feet. Her skin was slightly lighter than normal and Jay could only guess it was as smooth as silk. Her hair was white and long, flowing just went past her shoulders. Jay shuddered slightly at her beauty.

Peter touched his forehead with the first two of his right hand and muttered a few words in Greek as the woman sat down. She let out a laugh after she heard the words.

'Oh Please, I should be the one who should be greeting you with such words. Please, sit,' she motioned across the table towards the red sofas opposite her. Jay, Madison and Destiny found themselves sitting but Peter remained standing, leaning against the wall. The woman gave another laugh.

'Always polite but always rebellious. Always there to help, never there to do what you're told,' she smiled at him while he stayed expressionless against the wall 'you've made quite an imprint on the gods' minds. But the question for now is; why are you here?'

He raised an eyebrow at her, his expression unchanging.

'Surely you should know that?'

The two of the stayed silent. Peter, unchanging, the woman, smiling and batting her eyelashes at him.

'Umm…' Madison started 'Peter, who is this?'

Peter blinked and looked at them then blinked again and looked back at the woman.

'This is Tyche, goddess of Luck, Patron of city's fortunes and fate. The fact alone that she's here, in this city, is proof enough that it will do well in the future,' said Peter casting an apprehensive look at Tyche. 'What have you to do with us?'

'At the minute, nothing,' Tyche shrugged. 'But never the less I wish to talk to you and these demigods,'

'Oh, so not pissed off at us this time are you?' asked Peter.

'Ever since I found out that you left that guild, No. And that you left that freak outside,'

The atmosphere changed subtly. From being relaxed the group sitting down found the air quite… dangerous. Something within Peter had changed. It didn't show, you more, sort of, felt it. If a wrong direction was taken in the conversation, things would turn ugly quickly.

'I believe these demigods are not aware of who I speak about?' said Tyche casting her gaze over them, studying each of them in turn.

'What does she mean Peter?' questioned Jay.

'Paddy,' said Peter closing his eyes 'is a Fate Breaker,'

'A what?' asked Madison after a moment's silence.

'A Fate Breaker. Literally speaking it means he can't be prophesied about. You have no idea what he's going to do in the future because no Oracle or Seer can see him. To them he's all mist and smoke. It's a passive ability, so it sort of rubs off on those who are in close vicinity of the person for a long time,'

'That's what makes your previous guild so dangerous. The gods had no idea what you were going to do. Lucky you took the initiative and stopped them from taking part in the war,' continued Tyche. The atmosphere wavered again.

'They're not my "Previous guild". I am still a part of that guild and I intend to return,' said Peter calmly glaring at Tyche.

'And how long has it been since you were last there?' Tyche asked.

'A year,'

'And you still persist in saying that you are still a part of it. Tell me, when were you thinking of seeing them?' Tyche questioned Peter as if she had some problem understanding. The group sitting on the sofa knew very well that she didn't.

'In 7 days' time,'

'In seven days,' Tyche pondered. 'You mean after your awakening? Well after that you would be even more–'

'Leave it,' Peter said resolutely pushing himself off the wall. 'Do you have something meaningfully to say? We have a quest, and unless you're going to help, piss off,'

'To the point,' Tyche sighed. 'Your ride's outside. Here,' she threw a brown paper bag at him which he caught with one hand. 'They'll last for 5 hours. There are 10 of them in there. Use them wisely,'

'Can I ask what they do?' asked Peter as he turned to leave.

'You'll find out soon,' she smiled as the other three got up nervously. 'And don't forget my offer,' she called as they left the room.

They exited the casino and stepped out into the light. They shielded their eyes from the morning sun as they stepped out from the shade of the building.

'What was the offer about?' Destiny asked as they crossed the road.

'I'll tell you later,' Peter muttered. He spotted the look on Destiny face though and added 'I promise. And I never break promises,'

They walked up to where Paddy and Tom were sitting and noticed a bird sitting on the table. It was quite large, about the size of an eagle, and had a plumage of red, gold, yellow and orange. It scratched its gold feet on the table and lowered it bright orange head obviously looking for scraps.

'Look who we found,' Paddy called across to them. They hurried to table where Tom was analysing it critically.

'What is it?' asked Tom as they reached the table.

'Can't you tell? It's a bloody Phoenix!' Paddy explained exasperated.

'Is the Phoenix even part of Greek mythology?' Jay asked eyeing it apprehensively. The clouds rolled dangerously.

'They were but they're very rare, if you saw one nobody would believe you that's for sure,' Peter said coming up to close, kneeling down next to the table and looking at the Phoenix straight in the eye as it noticed its new-found attention.

'Is this our "ride"? It's hardly helpful,' Madison complained crossing her arms.

'It's true that Phoenixes are very strong but he could only carry one person with his claws and we wouldn't have enough strength to hold onto each other for a long time,' He eyed the Phoenix who eyed him back. 'So what are you here for little feller?'

The bird made some chirping noises then tried to rub its head against Peter's head.

'Whoa, okay, if you say so,' Peter backed away, standing up, and opened the brown paper bag.

'You can understand it?' Destiny asked looking up at Peter.

'Yeah, Phoenixes are very intelligent creatures,' He peered inside the bag. 'Man, these things just keep getting weirder and weirder,'

He pulled out a Jelly-baby. Just a simple raspberry flavoured Jelly-baby. The group looked at it. It looked like a pretty ordinary Jelly-baby.

It did nothing.

'That's got something to do with our ride? What are we meant to do with them? Pay a taxi driver with Jelly-babies?' asked Tom.

'Well, here goes nothing,' muttered Peter.

He threw a Jelly-baby at the Phoenix. It caught it in the end of its beak, flicked it up into the air, then swallowed it whole.

'Greedy,' Destiny muttered pouting.

The Phoenix started shaking.

'That Jelly-baby wasn't poisoned or anything was it?' Jay asked slowly.

'Who'd poison a Jelly-baby?' asked Tom.

'Umm… guys… is it me or is it getting bigger?' questioned Destiny slowly.

The Phoenix was exactly the same. Well, it did look a bit bigger. It was still shaking. It stepped towards the edge of the table, wobbling dangerously. It pushed itself off the edge and fluttered haphazardly down to the floor. Jay had seen planes crash more gracefully.

The Phoenix was defiantly bigger now. It was at least twice it original size now. It walked towards Peter, cawing loudly.

'Hey you told me to give it to you, why're you complaining?' Peter asked backing away.

It cawed loudly again, still following Peter looking desperately at him. It was growing quicker now. It was the size of the outside coffee table but still it grew. It spun round as Peter still back away, knocking over the coffee table with its long tail fathers.

'Oh great…' said Tom as the group backed away quickly.

It stopped growing.

'Oh smeggin' hell,' muttered Peter.

**Thanks guys and girls for all your reviews. I wonder how many chapter this story will go on for?**


	18. Chapter 18 Ammon Kynigos

**So The Eighteenth Chapter. Phew, this has become a real asset for me, I'm really starting to love this and all my readers so to all of you that still read this, thank you.**

**And Nate Baker, whoever you are, I appreciate that your reading my story but please give me some time, I'm changing my update day to every Saturday but I still have coursework to do man. I chose 5 subjects with coursework so I'm always busy.**

**~~~ Ammon Kynigos ~~~**

'What'd you think the mortals saw through the Mist?' said Madison smiling as her hair flew behind her as they cut through the air.

'Probably some small plane in the middle of a busy crossroads,' Paddy laughed, tightening his grip on the shoulder-feathers as they caught an up draft and flew up slightly higher into the air.

The Phoenix cut through the air like a missile. Its wings, 13ft each, beat through the air silently. It cried out loudly, its single low note echoing through the mountains. Its very feathers emitted heat, warming up its passengers.

Destiny sat of the edge of the left side, repeatedly pushing her golden hair behind her ear whilst trying to look over the edge. Madison sat just below her near the tail her legs swinging over the edge allowing her hair to fly freely. Tom sat on the right hand side studying a metal disc which he transferred from his rucksack to his pocket before the incident with Karkinos, whilst Paddy sat on the shoulder just above him with his crossbow, randomly firing bolts into the mountains, the Shield still strapped to his back. Peter stood on the left hand shoulder, closest to the head, overlooking the landscape; the sun glinted off his forearm length bronze gauntlets. Jay sat right in the middle holding onto his flapping t-shirt, a shade of green.

'Shall we give it a name?' asked Tom as he stroked his fingers through the Phoenix's feathers.

'Give what a name?' Madison asked looking over at him.

'The Phoenix,' responded Tom.

'How about Pyrrhos?' Peter said absentmindedly.

'Great originality,' muttered Paddy. 'We call a Phoenix "Being of Fire" when it already is,'

'You got any other names?'

'Why haven't you? You were given a title by those apparently "Brave enough to speak your name" Paddy did the comical Inverted-commas/bunny-ears sign.

'I still don't know who gave me that title,' Peter muttered to himself.

'What title?' Destiny asked looking round.

'Ammon Kynigos,' sighed Paddy 'The Unseen hunter. The newer recruits used to call him Aristarchos Ammon Kynigos,'

'You haven't had any new recruits have you?' asked Peter kneeling down on the Phoenix's shoulder.

'None,'

'Okay,'

The silence prevailed for some time. It wasn't a silence of awkwardness, just a silence of content as the Phoenix's wings beat almost silently through the air. Destiny looked out at the passing landscape. It was nice that they actually had a moment like this for once, they didn't come round often. Something rumbled. Someone groaned. Everybody looked towards the middle of the Phoenix's back.

Jay lay, curled up into a ball, in the middle, a shade of green which was common among moss. He didn't look good.

'You good Jay?' Paddy asked.

'Yeah,' Jay said quickly through gritted teeth. 'Just, don't make look over the edge,'

Paddy shrugged to the rest of the group, the shield shifting slightly, and returned to sniping out snow-caps off mountains. The silence came back again and everyone was fine with that.

Destiny shifted up the Phoenix's back and leant her arms on the shoulder laying her head on top of them. Her elbow accidently knocked Peter's ankle. She shuffled left slightly and looked up, opening her mouth to apologize.

'Don't' he said quietly without even looking. She remained looking at him though.

'Shut your mouth, I'd feel like a dentist if I looked at you now,'

She closed her mouth quickly. He still hadn't looked down. She turned back looking ahead, their destination was still several hundred miles away but the Phoenix was knocking those miles down. She thought of the conversation with Tyche. She'd hardly spoken; she'd gotten the impression she didn't need to. But still…

'What was the last word Tyche was going to say?' she asked pushing a strand of hair to the side of her face.

'Desirable,' said Peter quietly sitting down on the Phoenixes shoulder next to her head. Destiny frowned.

'Why would she say that?' she asked turning to look at him.

'She offered me to sleep with her,'

Destiny didn't speak for the next ten minutes.

'Why?' she asked after the silence.

Peter flexed his hand and arm-length gauntlets out in front of him. He put both hands behind him and leant back. He sighed heavily.

'You'll learn in five days,' he said not looking at her. There were shadows under his eyes. The feeling of something ominous, overshadowing him, following him never-endingly, struck Destiny. It felt like he was being chased by something and he couldn't escape. So instead of running, putting it off, he was going to face it, prepared for whatever was going happen.

'You're going to die aren't you?' she looked up at him quickly, the sudden realisation shocking her almost as much as the information. She got up and properly sat next to him on the Phoenix's shoulder. He looked at her. The shadows were still under his eyes. Destiny felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. She felt sadness creep up inside her like it was choking her. This couldn't be happening.

His face wavered slightly. His face remained the same though. It wavered again.

'Ah, I can't hold it in any longer,' said Peter. The shadows disappeared and his face changed to a smirk. His usual glint behind his eye returned. Destiny felt a single tear escape from her eye and looked at him, shocked.

'You're not gonna die?' she asked, eyes wide.

Peter snorted, looking out at the landscape. 'Like hell. It's true there's something following me that I can't escape, but I'm not gonna die from it. It'll be painful, but I won't die. Why'd you think Tyche was still interested in me?'

Destiny sat there her mouth open. Peter reached out and pushed the bottom of her chin up closing her mouth. Anger of being tricked surged through Destiny's body.

Peter caught her hand before it hit his face. He lowered her hand slowly. He was smiling gently.

'Careful now. You don't want to go too far,' he said quietly. Destiny looked at him and felt all her emotions drain away leaving nothing but exasperation. She sighed and fell sideways, her head landing on Peter's shoulder, her golden hair draping over their shoulders. She closed her eyes and sighed again. Peter looked down at her then turned back to looking over the landscape.

'Please don't joke about something so serious,' whispered Destiny, her eyes remaining closed. She couldn't see but she could tell that Peter was smiling.

'Can't promise that I won't. We still got a bit to go on this quest. Besides, after this you probably won't see me for some time,'

That caused Destiny to open her eyes.

'Why not?' she demanded quietly, lifting her head off his shoulder and looking behind them. The others had started their own conversations. Paddy seemed to be teaching Tom how to use a crossbow whilst growing increasingly evasive of questions about the bottles on his belt.

Peter gave her a _Come-On _look. 'Haven't you already worked out that we're part of a secret organization? Did we not give you enough hints?'

'And why can't I,–I mean, why can't we come with you?' Destiny corrected herself quickly.

'Because you lot belong at Camp Half-Blood,' said Peter simply.

'And why can't you stay at Camp Half-Blood?' asked Destiny.

'Because we don't belong there,' Peter answered in the same manner. Destiny shook her head and sighed. Why was he always like this?

'Why not?' she sighed, pushing several strands of hair to the side of her head. She heard herself almost sounding whiny.

'You'll understand in five days' time,' he chuckled. He leant against the Phoenix's neck and sighed looking at the horizon of clear blue sky. He cared, he really did. It was just that he was stuck in the middle. He could abandon someone so that the monsters would come after them or he could stay by their side and fight off the monsters. He'd chosen to go back to those he abandoned to save. Destiny believed he'd made the right choice. She wished she was a part of his guild. They all cared. She looked over at Paddy who was laughing at Tom's attempts at crossbowman-ship. It was a good-natured laugh. She wanted to meet the rest of the Seven who'd travelled with Peter.

She smiled as she watched Madison berate a still laughing Paddy and try and cheer up Tom.

* * *

><p>They passed over the border of Washington State at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.<p>

'We gotta land soon, unless you guys would like to fall to your death hundreds of meters high in the air?' asked Peter to the rest of the group as he leant over the Phoenix's shoulder hanging onto its neck.

The terrain was spectacular. They flew past mountains, each of them snow-capped despite the sun. Trees covered ground alongside fields giving a contrast of greens. Rivers, sparkling blue, occasionally trickled between fields, usually accompanied by a path with a few mortals walking on it.

'Where're we going?' Madison shouted over the wind.

Peter pointed. 'We gotta go past Mt. Rainier and onto the capital. We're gonna have to land on Mt Rainier and go down to the capital by foot,'

'We're going to Olympia?' shouted Tom struggling to keep a grip onto the feathers as they picked up even more speed.

'Yep. I think I've figured out what we gotta do,' Peter shouted back.

'What's that?' Paddy shouted up whilst trying to hold up the belt holding up the Bermuda shorts. He really needed to burn them one day.

'The seat of the Oracle,' Peter shouted 'I think, that when Camp Half-Blood got their new Oracle, they neglected the origins of the Oracle. Whoever was the Oracle, they sat in a three-legged bronze high chair. I'm guessing that this is one of the sources of her power, like the thrones of Olympus for example,'

'So wait, if the enemy have it, why isn't she dead yet?' asked Madison.

'Most likely draining her powers so they can use them themselves,' said Paddy as he flew up into the air slightly as they went suddenly went down a notch.

Mt. Rainier stuck out in the distance. It white-capped peaks stuck over the rows of tree covering the countryside. Steam rose steadily from it, forming a mist over the top of its peaks. On one of its sides, some snow gave way, causing I small avalanche to slide down slowly.

'We're meant to land on that thing?' Destiny asked her hair flying behind her.

'Isn't it meant to be a dormant volcano?' Tom shouted up grabbing Jay's collars as he slid down the Phoenix's back slightly.

'One of Hephaestus's forges,' Paddy said next to him. 'It should be safe,'

'And if it isn't?' Madison asked.

'We're buggered,'

'Great….'

The distance between them and the mountain disappeared. Suddenly the Phoenix was dropping sharply, and then they landed, quite heavily. The Phoenix staggered; swaying back and forth like it was drunk, let out a last cry, then its legs collapsed beneath it and it crashed into the snow, melting the snow on the ground around it. The Phoenix had done nothing but fly. It started to snore loudly.

It shrunk slowly as each of them jumped off its side. Jay sort of fell off and curled up into a ball when he landed clumsily. Peter reached down and picked up the Phoenix, putting it under his arm.

'Come on Jay, we're on flat ground again,' Peter said turning him over.

'Really?' he squeaked out. The ground still felt like it was moving.

'Yep, and unless you get up soon we're going to leave you behind,' he started walking into the snow and the mountain. The others followed him slowly staying behind him as he forged a path. Jay uncurled himself, got up and followed them. He's taking charge again Jay thought to himself. He still couldn't trust them. Only until this quest was over could he trust them.

Peter took a sharp left and then stopped. He turned to look at the mountain. Ice hung, small droplets coming off it, over a cave entrance. Steam came out of it. Peter walked in followed closely by Paddy. Tom hefted a sigh and followed them in, the group trailing behind him.

Torches covered the bronze plated walls casting long shadows. Peter snatched one out of its bracket and held it aloft, despite the fact the Phoenix gave off the same amount of light. Slime and mud stained the walls giving the corridor an eerie aura.

They enter the workshop. Heat hit them a steamroller going down a hill with no brakes. A pure-black anvil stood in the left hand corner while in taking most of the room was the furnace. A rack holding various tools was strapped to the right wall.

'Tool bench: Snowboard,' Peter commanded in a level voice. The wall flipped over revealing another tool-rack with sliding panels. The bronze mechanisms slid back and forth, eventually bringing forth a snowboard out of what seemed like an infinite crossroads to other places.

Peter put the torch into an empty bracket and pulled the snowboard off the wall with one hand.

'You got any Drachma on you Paddy?' Peter asked while putting the Phoenix carefully on the floor and picking up a strap. Paddy sighed and pulled several Drachmas out of his pocket and threw them at the tool-wall. They faded into the wall and they wall produced several more snowboards.

'You owe me Six Drachmas,' said Paddy pulling a snowboard off the wall. Peter finished strapping the snowboard to his back and picked up the Phoenix.

'I'll pay you back when we get to the hideout,' he looked up to them.

'How are your snowboarding skills?'

* * *

><p>They took off their snowboards after the volcanic rock ended. They'd passed the snow long since and had had a ride which felt like they were on the world's worst massaging machine.<p>

They unclipped their snowboards and ran into the forest. The Phoenix, unhappy, to say the least, about the ride, decided to vent it's anger out on the last couple of trees when they reached the end of the forest. After a couple of hits with Peter's swords at the base the tree went down and they rolled it away from the forest.

They followed a path along the fields around the mountains. The bright-blue sky had slowly been turned into an orange glow as the sun went behind the mountains.

'Where is this place?' Destiny asked as they walked in almost single file around a lake.

'Reflection Lake. The lake is most famous for reflecting amazing scenes,' Jay yawned as they walked.

'How'd you know that?' Madison asked looking at the lake.

'Read it on the sign we passed,'

'Oh,'

They continued walking around the lake. They made their way a little from the lake on a small path and found themselves in front of boulders, each the size of Paddy who easily the tallest in the group.

'And here,' Paddy stamped down on the ground with one leg. When he drew it away, a trapdoor sprung up and several torches lit up next to a ladder leading down. Peter didn't bother with the ladder. The Phoenix gave a small cry and flew off his shoulder as he jumped through the trapdoor. It looked resentfully down though the trapdoor, obviously at Peter and flew through. Paddy motioned, being polite, allowed them to climb down first. They climbed down the ladder slowly, the orange flames illuminating the tunnel which became the only light as Paddy closed the trapdoor.

They followed the tunnel, Peter once again snatching a torch off one of the brackets as they walked.

Peter stopped; Jay crashed into him, and held up a hand.

'Onocentaurs,' he whispered. He dropped the torch and stood on it, extinguishing the flames. 'They'll know we're here by the torches lighting up at the entrance. Leave it to me,' he nodded to the Phoenix hovering in the air. It flew back to the entrance.

Paddy's hand shimmered into view, glowing faintly, and illuminating Paddy's face.

'Now that's something you don't want to see in a dark tunnel,' muttered Tom.

Paddy scowled, but only put a finger to his lips.

He quickly covered his mouth with the other hand, rubbing the burnt spot but remained silent.

They waited for a minute. Illuminated both of his hands to full and motioned for them to follow.

The tunnel led to a square brightly lit bronze plated room, contrasting the mud walls of the tunnel only held up with supports. In the middle was a square worktable; while on the walls were various weapons. A fridge stood in the corner. On the floor lay the bodies lay 4 centaurs turning to dust, but there were another 4 piles of dust on the other side of the table. No, they weren't centaurs, they had the torso of a human but the bottom half was a donkey.

Peter sat on the table, throwing a knife spinning into the air and catching it.

'That's is why my title is, Ammon Kynigos,'

**And I have a poll. Please go over to my profile page to check it out. You guys and girls get to choose a name for the Phoenix.**


	19. Chapter 19 We're Screwed

**So The Nineteenth Chapter.**

… ***Snore* …Huh? Ah whatever, wake me up in five minutes… need more… sleep… if only Hypnos was around….**

**~~~ We're Screwed ~~~**

'Pull down all the walls and pile them around the room. Put all the weapons, the armour, the shield, everything in a pile and send it through Zephyrus to the base. Be on the lookout for anything that could give clues to anybody. Let's strip this place down,' said Peter sternly. 'It's a shame Makarov and McYorvish aren't here. I'll go check-up top to make sure no-one's around, this could be an ambush,' He ran off down the corridor.

Paddy chuckled as he started pulling weapons off the wall. The others looked at him and he smiled.

'He's playing cap-i-tan again. Even after being away for a year, he still can't help himself,'

'Who are Makarov and McYorvish?' Madison asked as she pulled down various pieces of armour from the wall.

'Makarov a reject from Assassin's Creed– I mean he's Son of Ichnaea, goddess of tracking. While McYorvish, well… he's the Son of Techne, the spirit of Crafting, but the reason why Peter mentioned him,' Paddy smirked. 'Private joke, if you ever manage to come to our base we'll tell you,' He chucked weapons haphazardly onto the worktable in the middle.

'So why are we ripping this place down?' Jay asked as he threw several hammer onto the table.

'The enemy knows of this place, we have to burn it. It's the only way; we don't have enough of the right sort of powers to hide every single base. We can hardly hide our HQ,'

The group started ripping down the racks. Piece of wood covered the floor while a pile of anything that was on the racks was thrown onto the table. Peter walked back down the corridor with the Phoenix on his shoulder. He climbed over the timber to fridge. He picked up one side and flipped it onto the piles of wood. Reaching down, he picked up a small bag and climbed back over the wooden piles.

He looked at the table then picked up a sword and threw it, handle first to Tom. 'Take the sword. You're gonna need it soon,'

'Zephyrus, god of the west wind blah blah blah. Take this offering of 5 drachmas and please deliver it to The Unseen's Base,' Peter sighed, throwing 5 drachmas at the table.

A voice echoed through the room.

'Would you like to sign it?'

'Sign it as P and P' Paddy smirked. Peter grinned as the contents on top of the table vanished.

'Let's go,' said Peter 'Burn it,' he said looking at the phoenix in the eye. The bird fluttered off his shoulder and cried once. Paddy motioned towards the tunnel, offering it politely to Madison first.

They walked down the tunnel silently. A feeling of fear, no, not fear…

Urgency.

They know we're here Tom thought. Someone was watching them, someone who probably had the same amount of information that Peter had without his guild.

They climbed up the ladder, Peter coming out last. He held the trapdoor open for a few minutes before the Phoenix flew outwards through the hole. The trapdoor slammed shut. Jay made a move to go but Peter and Paddy stayed still, looking at the trapdoor. Smoke curled out of the edges, floating outwards into the air. Looking around they felt vulnerable. Paddy and Peter looked outwards, looking towards Olympia. Someone waiting for them.

And they wouldn't disappoint them.

'He won't be able to keep this up for long. That's the second one he's had in one day,' said Peter to the rest of the group.

Their speed increased. Destiny and Madison struggled to keep their hair under control as they dropped below the clouds, continuing to descend. Paddy kept one hand on Jay's collar while looking around the scenery. He wasn't sightseeing. Tom had his sword out and was examining it. The sword looked like it was made of steel but had a blue tint to it.

'Peter, what is this sword made of?' asked Tom. Peter looked round.

'Oh, that. It's a steel similar to Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold,'

'Imperial Gold?' asked Madison as her hair whipped around her head.

Paddy looked at Peter who shrugged. 'Basically Celestial Bronze in gold form,'

'So what the steel called?' asked Tom holding his sword upwards.

'V-e-r-s-a-t-i-l-i-a. Versatilia. Pronounced _Ver-Sa-Till-e-a,_'

'Why did you have to pronounce it out?'

'Some people get confused,' he shrugged 'it took a long time to explain what it was to Paddy,'

'I am not a forger,' Paddy said in his defence.

'And it's blue… why?'

'Versatilia is the same rarity as Celestial and Imperial but its location is harder to find. Celestial and Imperial are easy to find but come in small veins while Versatilia is hard to find but has large veins. Our guild has only found two veins. If you ever get come to our base I'll tell you why it's tinted blue,'

'Actually, we found a third,' Paddy added in.

'So how many weapons does that make now?'

'32 made out of Versatilia, the rest are the other metals,'

'Interesting,'

The Phoenix flew onwards. The silence once again descended like a person standing next to a skyscraper and realising a piano had just been pushed out of the top window above him. Was this the final fight? They still didn't know how Peter knew the way. But it was different now. The enemy had made them destroy one of their own bases. This was personal now.

'There it is,' Peter pointed into the distance.

'Olympia,'

The Sun shone off the water surrounding the capital. A lake split the city in two with only three bridges across the two halves. The bridge nearest them was the motorway. Cars, tiny due to the height, sped along it. Looking down, sections of city disappeared as lights turned off, each power gird in turn. Boats moved slowly across the water, creating ripples that were lost past the golden horizon.

'So, and I know was probably meant to be asked at the beginning of the quest but, what is our goal?' asked Tom.

'Kill the beast, grab the chair, leave?' asked Paddy sarcastically.

'If only quests went so easily,' muttered Peter darkly meeting Paddy's eyes.

'Woah wait, let's go through the lines,' said Madison thoughtfully. '_Four shall go west for the Oracle of Delphi. _Well, we weren't at the beginning,'

'_One shall come forth and he shall help thee_,' said Destiny. The entire group looked towards Peter who shrugged, accepting it.

'_He shall find a path a trail_,' Tom repeated. He looked at Peter quizzically.

'Soon,' Peter said quietly.

'_You must slay the beast else, you fail_,' Jay croaked out lying in the middle once again, now a shade of horrible blue that was the same as those shades of bruises. A memory of his dream struck Tom.

'Somebody's brought the beast back,' he said. 'I remember seeing it. It something… something connected to the Oracle,'

'Plus the person that brought it back,' Paddy pointed out. 'They're not just gonna let us run away with the chair are they?'

'We got the fourth and fifth day,' Madison reasoned looking around at the declining light. Giant shadows were cast along the bottom of the city by the buildings, blacking the streets. Olympia was directly below them.

With no warning the Phoenix nosedived. Madison and Destiny screamed as Tom yelled out. Jay made a sound that sounded like a combination between a gurgle and a shout but was cut off by his own stomach. Paddy and Peter tightened their grip as the ground rushed up.

'Level out!' shouted Peter. The Phoenix's wings snapped out and they soared forwards passing over several buildings.

'Not so close next time,' said Tom clutching tightly onto the feathers.

'Where are we going?' Madison asked breathing slowly.

'The State building,'

Buildings flew past below them. A wall of trees appeared in front of them. The Phoenix quickly flapped its wings twice clearing the trees. Behind them, the back wash of air smashed into the trees shaking their leaves off. The motorway flashed past below them. Another set of trees and more houses sped past.

'Just out of interest, what's the time?' asked Destiny.

Paddy took his belt of his Bermuda shorts. He flipped over a thick piece of the belt.

'9 o'clock. If it wasn't for the fact it was summer we'd have no light to guide us,'

'We'd still have light even if it was in winter Paddy,' said Peter.

'But the daylight shortens in the winter,'

'We're on a Phoenix,'

Paddy looked round. 'Oh yeah….'

The Phoenix dropped considerably then levelled out, landing softly on a lawn. The group slid off its back before it turned to look at them. It lowered its head and stared at Peter with one beady eye before letting out a soft note which blasted warm air over the entire group. Madison felt sorry for Peter who stood right next to its mouth when it happened. Peter opened his eyes slowly, rubbing his face with his right hand.

'Don't worry. I promise I won't, either of them,' he turned to the rest of the group as the Phoenix closed its eyes, drew its head back and fell asleep, shrinking back to its ordinary form. 'You guys ready?'

The sound of two guns being loaded echoed as Paddy loaded his crossbows, one of which he took from their base before they burnt it. Sliding metal sounded as Tom and Destiny drew their blades while the dull _Plunk! _sounded as Jay knocked an arrow. Madison silently unclipped her necklace, transforming as she lowered it. Now it was time.

Peter grinned slightly. He pulled his hilts out of his pockets, the blade growing without a sound. He turned and walked silently towards the State Building. He reached a window, threw his sword at it, which stuck in it, forced the blade around, kicked in the window, then jumped in.

'Leave the Phoenix; it won't be able to fly again for some time,' said Paddy quietly as he jumped through the window.

Old. That was the word to describe the place. They walked between meeting halls and conference rooms, sticking to the shadows. No-one was around though. They walked through a corridor and into an office, its light flickering above them.

'Here,' Peter slammed his shoulder into the side of a file cabinet. The cabinet fell sideways crashing into the floor spilling documents everywhere.

'You're telling me the way forwards is through a trapdoor located underneath a filing cabinet in a mortal's office in the Washington State Building?' Tom asked, eyebrows raised.

'Yep,'

'Well, someone's going to have a shock when they refurnish this place,'

Peter reached down and slid several bolts open. He placed a foot between the gap and flicked it open.

No light came from the hole. Nothing was visible, only the top of a ladder.

'Anybody want to go in scary cavern first?' Peter asked looking round. The group looked at him apprehensively.

'Thought as much,' he muttered. He dropped down, the darkness swallowing him whole.

Paddy swung himself onto the ladder and climbed down. The group remaining looked at each other. It was always them last.

'We hardly have a choice, do we?' Madison grimaced.

'Okay, since when were there caverns underneath the State Building?'

Paddy led the way, his hand on fire. It was a natural underground tunnel. Water glistened off rock faces in Paddy's light. The constant _drip _was there in the background. Nature had done a good job on this place. Just who had used it though?

'There's an end coming up,' said Paddy.

'How'd you know that?' asked Destiny at the back.

'Always follow your nose,' said Peter.

The end of the tunnel expanded. The Cavern glittered back in response to Paddy's flames. The cavern could have easily fitted a house in it. Stalactites hung from the ceiling and a pool of water reflected light in the corner.

'The beauty of Nature,' Peter said mystically, coming to the front of the group looking up.

'Has to be ruined by those who don't how to respect it,'

Mischievous voices filled the cavern.

'Kobaloi' muttered Paddy angrily.

Imagine the gnomes off Harry Potter, in Ron's back garden? Now imagine them 4ft tall and with a killing intent. Their eyes didn't show a spark for playing; they had the emptiness for killing. They climbed over the carven walls like miniature spider-men.

'More in the tunnel behind us,' Paddy shouted spinning around.

'They're too many,' muttered Peter looking around.

'What are you saying? Use your full power!' Madison shouted at him. Peter shook his head.

'Even if me and Paddy did use our full power we wouldn't be able to stop them, they'd swarm us from behind and stop us from moving,'

'So we're screwed is what you're saying,' said Jay his voice shaking slightly.

'Something like that,'

'So you lead us into a trap,'

'Didn't mean too. Look on the bright side at least we won't die,'

'What ?' exclaimed Tom.

'Look at their weapons,' Peter pointed towards the oncoming horde. 'Clubs and blunt weapons, designed to knock out and break bones. Looks like they have master, who wants to see us,'

'So what do we do?'

'Take out as many of them before they over whelm us'

'Numbers?' Paddy shouted aiming down his crossbows.

'I'd say about 1000 to 6,'

'Lovely,'

**Come on Guys and Girls! I've updated like three times and I've only had two reviews! What happened? Did anybody do the poll either?**


	20. Chapter 20 Pulimis Stultus

**So The Twentieth Chapter.**

**Sweet, I've just heard my story called TOF. If I had the normal scope of emotions I'd be feeling pride right now but instead all I can feel is happiness, thanks guys and girls.**

~~~ Pumilus Stultus ~~~

Chains jangled, echoing through the silence. Destiny opened her eyes.

Darkness.

There was nothing to be seen. She pushed her limp form upwards. She looked up seeing chains binding her hands. She struggled momentarily but gave up. She slid back down hanging loosely, her legs sliding out in front of her. She looked back up at her chains. There was a linkage that wasn't connected to anything. She squinted her eyes, trying to focus on the linkage. Someone else's chains?

'Madison?' she whispered into the darkness. 'Tom?' she looked round desperately. 'Jay? Paddy?' She breathed slowly. 'Peter?'

'Morning,'

'What the hell?'

'What? You're not a morning person?' said Peter right next to her on her left.

'How can you be so flippant?'

'Destiny,' Peter said seriously. 'How're wounds?'

'What wounds–' she looked down. Blood droplets covered her legs, staining her denim skirt. Her left arm suddenly stung. She looked at it. A gash went up the side of it. Her golden hair, draped around her shoulders, was perfect though.

'Anything broken?' asked Peter movingly.

'I don't think so but- Argh! God it hurts!' Destiny cried out.

'They weren't exactly gentle,' muttered Peter darkly.

'What about you?' asked Destiny tearfully, wiping her tears on the edge of her leather jacket.

Even though she couldn't see him she knew Peter winced. 'Two broken ribs and a serious blow to the head. Seems like they either had orders to be a bit rougher with me or they were being absolute bastards,'

'What'd you mean?'

'Look at your hair,'

'Looked, so what?'

Peter came into focus, Destiny's eyes becoming accustomed to the dark. He hung limply from his chains. Blood trickled down the side of his head passing over his left eye while his hair was dyed red. Patches of blood stained his pure white t-shirt. His jogging bottoms were in even worse condition than before; entire chucks were missing out of the leggings.

'Use your brain Destiny. You were eye-candy for them to put it the nicest way,'

'You mean…'

'Yeah, if they weren't given absolute orders with what to do with you after whatever the hell this is, they'll probably molest you and try to rape you,'

'What?' Screamed Destiny. Her voice echoed through the darkness.

'Destiny, Don't worry,' Peter said movingly. 'That will never happen,'

'Great,' Destiny said in deep shuddering breaths. 'Just not so blunt next time?' she pleaded.

'Sorry,'

'So how are we going to get out of this place?'

'I need some light to know what this place is first,'

'Why not have Paddy light up?'

'I've been kicking him for the last half an hour; he still hasn't woken up yet. He probably took an even bigger blow than me to the head.

'Oh,'

'He'd be able to melt through these chains. I'd free us but I don't have any weapons on me,'

'So we just gotta wait?

'Yep,'

They sat in silence. No wind, no dripping water, not even the occasional scurry of feet.

'Peter?' Destiny asked timidly

'Yeah?'

'If... I mean, if you–… never mind,' Destiny turned away.

'I would usually say okay and just forget about it, but you seemed stressed by it,' Destiny felt him looking at her. 'What's the problem Des?'

Destiny turned to look at him. No fear filled his eyes, only patience. She breathed in slowly.

'What would you– No, what do you want more than anything else?'

Silence filled the cavern once more. Peter turned, chains clinking, looking out into the darkness, exhaling slowly.

'Sorry I didn't mean–'

'Don't worry,' Peter chuckled 'I was asked this once before, and I had a different answer back then,'

'What was the previous answer?'

'To have a family,'

'Oh,' said Destiny slowly. 'And now you have a family?'

Peter chuckled at that one. 'I have my guild, and that is enough for me,'

'You've been away from them for a year,' Destiny pointed out.

'That's true,' Peter sighed.

'So what is your answer now?'

Peter sighed again, looking thoughtful. 'Dunno really. I don't really think about what I want. I only care about other people. I don't want to die because other people would be worse off without me. It's kinda weird,' Peter tried to shrug but gave up. 'But it suits me,'

Kinda Weird. That more or less summed up Peter. Not truly human but not truly alien. It was the sort of halfway point that people would try and get to, to make themselves unique. Most of the time people would go too far. _Lady Gaga? _The childish part of Destiny thought. She shook her head, ridding herself of her thoughts. She sighed and looked around. Light. That was what they needed. She looked at her legs, her brain telling her it was going to kick her if she didn't spot the massive hint that was sitting in front of her.

Of course. Herself. She snorted at her own foolishness. She concentrated on light, Her Light. The Power was there as always, waiting. But time it seemed different somehow, more mature, more… at home.

She concentrated on a simple ball in front of her. Flowing Light flew from her chained hands above her head, the river of light concentrate into a ball in front of her. Rays of light came off the ball illuminating their surroundings.

'Bloody hell,' Peter whispered as their surroundings appeared before them.

They sat in an arena, carved out of stone. They were all attached to one pole, all chained with their hands above their heads, surrounded by nothing. The light went further though. Were those seats? Destiny twisted her head from side to side. Everything was completely circular. The walls of the arena had gates in them and above the walls, seats. Row after row of seats continued round the wall. As the seats went back, the higher up they went. But in front of Destiny, stood a box its pillars and roof were completely carved out of stone, while purple cloth was draped from the top, stopping them from seeing the inside. It almost looked like–

'An Amphitheatre,' Peter muttered looking round. 'By the looks of it, a replica of the Colosseum in Rome. They managed to construct the entire thing underground. Gotta say, I'm impressed,'

The place was huge. They looked up and found the ceiling 500 meters above them, gigantic stalactites handing down.

'Just 5 more minutes,' someone whispered next to Destiny. Destiny kicked out to her right.

'Tom, wake up!' Destiny hissed at him.

'What?... Destiny?' He blinked hard, shaking his head. 'Where are we?'

'God, don't shine light into the eyes of a sleeping person!' Another voice shouted.

'Madison?'

'Destiny?'

Someone sighed.

'Okay, what the hell's happening?'

'Jay?'

'Tom?'

Someone moaned.

'You better have a cup of Tea there otherwise I'm not getting up, and does anyone have any explanation why I can't feel my leg?'

'Eh, he's finally awake,'

'Pete– flying buckets of crap! Where the hell are we?'

They all looked around with dazed expressions. It dawned on each of them they were still alive.

'Where are our weapons?' asked Paddy. Straight to the point.

'No idea, shall we go find them?' responded Peter yawning.

'Just let me melt through these chains and we can get outta here. If they damaged my twin shot crossbow with Jim's Power compatibility exchange, they will burn,' said Paddy furiously.

'It seems our guests have awakened. Shall we greet them?' a tiny voice that had nothing to do with a warm welcome.

The purple cloth split in two and slid aside, curtain like. What it revealed though, the group wished the cloth was still there. In the middle stood a throne, and on the throne sat a Koblas. It sat, like a teenager, one leg up on the arm rest while leaning its head in its hand with its elbow on the other arm rest, its other arm hanging casually. In the hand that hung, it clasped a golden stick. But the most disgusting thing, the Koblas was completely clean, it was oiled all over. A thick layer of the stuff was easily visible from even where the group were chained. Its small, beat up, little ferret like face was smiling.

'Shall we have a bit of entertainment for our guests then?' He turned to a Koblas on his right which reached down and pulled out a trumpet. It blew two notes then stopped.

Suddenly, the entire Colosseum echoed with the thundering of feet. Torches instantly burst into flames illuminating the underground cavern. Hundreds of Koblas ran into the Colosseum quickly taking seats, fighting over who tripped up who and spitting down into the edges of the arena. There were even Koblas going round selling items as the masses took their seats.

The hundreds of Koblas slowly became silent. Each of them looking expectantly down into the arena.

'Throw their weapons into the arena,' the one on the throne shouted at its aid. The aid hurriedly reached down, trying to gather all of the weapons in one, and threw them out of the box, into arena.

'Well that solves that problem,' Paddy muttered darkly watching the pile of weapons drop to the ground.

'Who are you?' asked Peter looking directly at the Koblas in the throne.

It drew itself up proudly.

'I,' it announced 'am Pumilus Stultus the Third, son of the Second and ruler of Koblas!' The crowd cheered loudly.

Something weird was happening to Paddy and Peter. Both of them were shaking violently and each of their faces were screwed up in concentration.

'Keep it in,' said Peter determinately to Paddy.

'I can't,' said Paddy. 'He doesn't know either and that's what makes it funnier,'

'Fine,' Peter gave in. They both burst out laughing, shaking in their chains and squirming all over the place.

The Koblas was furious. 'You dare laugh in front of me?'

Peter and Paddy slowly stopped laughing.

'You have no idea what your namesake means do you?' asked Peter smiling up at the Koblas.

'It means the greatest among Koblas,' said Pumilus Stultus stiffly. 'That is why I took the throne not my sister,'

'Sexist Bastard,' said Paddy darkly.

'Oh, we're not sexist. We just believe that women should only be their when we want them,'

'No wonder you guys are companions of Dionysus. Bloody god of ecstasy,'

'Oh yes,' Pumilus Stultus purred. 'And when you are all dead, I'll have some fun with these two,' he looked mischievously at Destiny and Madison. Madison looked revolted of his view but Destiny grinned up at him. Pumilus Stultus saw her expression.

'Ah so this one does not fear? Does she want the pleasure?'

'Nah, I just know that that's never going to happen,' she stuck her tongue at him.

Pumilus Stultus smiled. 'Then we'll have to see the beast kill you then,'

'Sheesh, in the middle of an arena tied to a post with wild beasts coming to kill us. Have you watched Attack of the Clones recently?' Jay asked. 'I think you have an error though, we're all tied to one post, we should all be on separate posts,'

'Right, safety measures. If contestant tries to escape, you will find a club under your seat to beat them with. Do not take the club home with you! It is-'

'Any ideas Paddy?' Peter muttered as Pumilus Stultus continued his speech to the crowd.

'Melt through these chains, kill that bastard and fight our way out?'

'Any more of those half-assed ideas and I'll kick your ass. I'll do the destroying; you guys grab the weapons and run out of here. Go through the gate on the right; take two lefts and then a right. That's as far as I can lead you from this position,'

Paddy paled. He swallowed loudly and looked around the Colosseum. He turned back to Peter.

'Are you crazy?' He hissed. 'Why can't we fight our way out?'

'Because it'll be the same as last time. We'll just be swarmed and end up back here. If keep repeating it we'll end up dead eventually,'

'But use,' he paused, looked round at the others then turned back. 'That? You're gambling your sanity?'

'It's better than being dead,' Peter muttered. 'And if I do turn into a walking vegetable, please, either find a way to heal me instantaneously or kill me,'

Paddy sighed. 'So close too. You lose your mind and I will never forgive you,'

Peter grinned. 'I guessed you wouldn't accept an apology,'

'Just get on with it. I'll drag your tired body with us,'

Peter didn't say anything. The group looked at him. He'd closed his eyes.

Paddy turned to the others.

'You guys pick up the weapons, everything. I'll grab Peter, then we all run,' Paddy seriously.

'What's he going to do?' asked Tom watching Peter.

'Probably kill everything up to around the middle-back seats, and then those who aren't destroyed will be pushed back and then confusion will probably rain'

'Are you going to tell us what's going to happen?'

Paddy smirked. 'Watch, it might give you a hint of who his parent is. It might feel weird in a bit, but that's to protect us,'

'–And so to start the games! Let in the–'

Everything went silent. Not a sound could be heard. Tom looked around, then, suddenly, his vision went blurry. He cried out, but no sound came out. He tried to turn to look at the others but couldn't move his head. He tried his legs. He couldn't move. It was like he was completely encompassed by sand, he couldn't push forwards, he couldn't even pull himself up by his chains. He was completely frozen, stuck in that state. His visions cleared. He could see Paddy in front of him, he'd been listening to him went it all stopped, his eyes closed. It looked like he was meditating. He could see the Koblas cheering. Something caught his eye though. Just in front of him there seemed to be a layer.

The layer disappeared.

A shockwave smashed outwards into the crowds of Koblas instantly making those in the front and middle rows disintegrate. The stone walls cracked, splits running across the walls. Stone seats were torn off and thrown through the air smashing through the stadium. The top of the box which Pumilus Stultus sat in was snapped off. The Koblas himself gripped the armrests as the shockwave ripped his body apart. The power washed Koblas all over the stadium, smashing them into walls, forcing them through exits and destroying seats. A Koblas usherette flew through the air.

The havoc died down slowly. Paddy jumped up shaking his wrists. Molten metal dripped off his hands.

'So,' he started as he putting his flaming hands on the top of the wooden pole. 'You guys figured out anything yet?'

**I am so glad I took Latin for a GCSE. **


	21. Chapter 21 Son of the Air

**So the Twenty-First Chapter. **

**Man, I had to use a hyphen in the chapter. **

**Merry Christmas guys and Girls! Here's my Christmas treat to you lot.**

**Nate, how am i meant to reply to you when you don't even have an account.**

**~~~ Son of the Air ~~~**

The pole which all their chains were connected to went up in flames.

'Let's get the hell outta here,' Paddy yelled above the confusion, screaming and the crashing and crumbling of stone. He reached down, put Peter's arms which were still chained around his neck, and ran towards the door on the edge of the arena Peter had indicated to. The others sprinted towards weapons, hurriedly picked up, then sprinted after Paddy.

They ran through the door, jumped down a flight of stairs and found themselves once again immersed in caves. They followed Paddy through a series of natural tunnels until he stopped. He laid Peter down again the side of the tunnel and sat down himself, breathing slowly. The others dropped the weapons and sat against the tunnel wall, breathing heavily.

'Come here,' he motioned to the others. 'I'll melt off your chains,'

Madison got up first and walked over. She landed in front of him then held out her wrists.

'I demand,' she panted out 'An… explanation… of what the hell… just happened back there,'

'You still haven't worked it out yet?' Paddy grinned as he worked on trying not to burn her but free her at the same time.

'Should we have?' asked Tom, he'd pulled his legs up and placed his forehead on his knees.

'Peter,' Paddy glanced at his sleeping limp form. 'Is a son of the air,'

'Son of who?' asked Madison, confused.

'Who gives a damn,' a voice growled.

The group spun round. Jay sat next to Peter, one hand gripping the front of his collar the other holding a dagger next his neck.

'Jay! What the hell?' Madison shouted swing her arm around in shock, drops of molten metal hitting the roof of the tunnel.

'Why the hell did you lead us into a trap?' Jay sounded out every word.

'Jay,' Tom said slowly. He could feel something. 'Don't,'

'Why the hell haven't you told us anything?' Jay shouted shaking Peter's sleeping body.

'Back off,' a click sounded a crossbow loading. 'Now,'

Paddy stood above Jay, his crossbow pointed at the side of Jay's head. Two crossbow blot tips gleamed in the semi-darkness of the cave. Jay's breathing turned shallow.

'So planning on betraying us now?' he asked without turning his head.

'No,' Paddy growled. 'I just plan on saving a comrade,'

There was something Paddy voice that made Jay waver for a moment. The entire group noticed it. He wasn't yelling or screaming. He talked completely normally, but behind it all was a voice that said it didn't care. If it had to kill, it would. Jay regained his strength, they told them nothing.

'And what will do if I kill him now?'

Paddy remained silent then-

'You won't,' Something inside Jay shattered. He knew. No. They knew.

'You see there's a difference between us, and you,'

Peter opened his eyes.

'The first difference is that we're ready, to do anything,' Peter said slowly. Jay shook as he held onto Peter's collar.

'The second difference, we know who our loyalties belong to,' said Peter, his feet getting their own footing. 'No-One,'

'Paddy, stand down,' Peter sighed turning his head to him.

'Not until he removes his kni–'

'I said stand down!' shouted Peter. Paddy breathing heavily dropped his crossbow to his side begrudgingly. The group looked on fearfully.

'The third,' Peter's hand flew up with unbelievable speed and gripped the blade pressed against his neck. 'Is that we never break our promises,'

His hand tightened around the blade. Blood spurted out, droplets hitting Jay's face. Jay stumbled backwards in shock, hands desperately wiping his face. The group remained silent. Peter stood up, the blade dropping out of his hand. He surveyed the group.

'I promised to you that I would help on this quest as a repayment back to Destiny for healing me. This quest isn't over yet, we still have plenty to do,'

Peter collapsed against the wall of the tunnel, his legs giving way underneath him. Paddy walked over and knelt beside him, muttering something about foolish he was to try and move. Peter smiled at this picking up the dagger and cutting off part of his t-shirt. Paddy picked up the scrap of cloth and bound Peter's hand. Madison crawled over to Jay.

She slapped him.

'What, The, Hell, Was, That, All, About?' she hissed at him, looking furious.

Jay opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. Madison raised her hand again to slap him but someone laid a hand on her shoulder.

'Leave it,' Tom said quietly, smiling. 'They've forgiven him, so why can't we?' he looked over at them.

'Why didn't you rip off your entire shirt like a man?' Paddy asked as he tied off the make-shift bandage.

Peter gave him a look.

'I'm having my ass handed to me later aren't I?' Paddy asked, smiling.

'Yeah, you are,'

Jay still shook slightly. He looked over at Peter.

'Wha-… What's with the eyes?' he asked timidly, still slightly scared.

'What, these?' Peter pointed to his eyes. In the middle of the completely black pupil, a speck of white stained it. 'Just an after effect for using my Powers to early,'

'Who is your parent?' Madison asked grabbing her whip and clipping around her neck, it slowly transformed back into a beaded necklace. 'There is no way a son of a wind god could do that,'

'They could, but they'd need to put themselves through hell before they could pull something like that off,'

'What was that then?'

Peter turned to Paddy 'do you mind explaining? If I explain it'll be my thirty-third time,'

Paddy sighed. 'Using his power of air, Peter compressed the air in the room to a dome. That was the thing that covered us completely stopping us from doing absolutely anything. This means that the air outside of the dome was completely deprived of particles.

'The air wasn't completely gone, just some of it was missing. To cause the shockwave all Peter simply had to do was let go of his control over the air. The air expanded to fill the gap so quickly it was destructive thereby making a dome-like force-field expand out smashing into everything very quickly. Unfortunately it's a massive energy drain so this idiot fainted when he used it,'

'Sweet,' Destiny said quietly, smiling. She'd sat through the entire escapade hugging her knees. 'So who is your parent?'

Peter gave her a small smile. 'You'll find out in 3 days minimum, probably before that,' he closed his eyes, took one last long breath, then fell asleep, snoring lightly.

Destiny looked at Paddy with eyes raised. 'Well?'

Paddy grinned sadly. 'I don't know. Peter never told any of us. I told you, he gave us a riddle, Kecks solved it after a day, and he gave a date when he would reveal everything.

'That day is three days from now,'

'Lelantos?'

Paddy shook his head. 'No idea. I'll melt your chains off, grab some sleep,'

'In a cave?' asked Madison

'Do you know the way?

'No,' Madison sighed.

'Precisely,'

* * *

><p>The drip was back. The constant drip in the background, as all other noises faded out, remained. Jay opened his eyes slowly. He looked round, the semi-darkness of the tunnel obscuring his sight.<p>

'Couldn't sleep?'

Jay jumped and hit his head on the tunnel roof. Rubbing his head he squinted through the darkness. The gloom faded slightly revealing Peter lying against the tunnel wall. He wished he wouldn't do that. He'd make an awesome ninja though. Peter chuckled lightly, looking better than when he'd used… whatever it was. Jay opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out again. Peter snorted lightly, his eyes smiling.

'Still thinking about yesterday? And now you don't know what to think, you want to keep with your old mentality but I've shown you my mentality and dedication and you're split between the two,' said Peter. Jay would've hated him if he'd finished with "Am I right?' but he didn't. He'd hit it right on the head.

'Ironic eh? From someone who doesn't have that many emotions,' Peter chuckled. Jay stared at him. A moan came out of a mound next to Peter. The mound uncurled itself revealing Paddy.

'What time is it?' Paddy groaned.

'Dunno, but I'll defiantly say it's the 4th day,' said Peter. 'You got any spare fish?'

'2. You can use one though,'

Peter crawled over to the still sleeping three and drew back the fish. The slap echoed through the tunnel.

'God! Seriously, why the second time?' Tom complained.

Tom, Madison and Destiny all rubbed the sides of their faces. Peter threw the fish down the tunnel and stood up as the others tried to get rid of their tiredness. Peter walked to weapon pile and started chucking weapons at their respective owners. Destiny dodged her knife as it stuck into the wall. Paddy caught his crossbow out of the air. Peter stuck his hilts into his pockets.

'Come on, not much further. The chair's nearby,'

The group groaned as they got up. Peter never really seemed human; Paddy was closer to being human.

'I know you guys hate me at the minute but after this I think were done. Besides you guys will be glad once this is over,' said Peter walking down the tunnel.

'Oh yeah, How exactly do you know the way?' Madison asked ducking under as the tunnel lowered itself momentarily.

'I've been following the vapour trails. When I heard the information of the Oracle's illness I searched the camp at night to make sure that that all of the Oracle's items were there. I noticed she had nothing. No pendant, no robes, but most importantly, no chair. The chair was placed above the crack in the ground which would give out fumes through which the Oracle gets her powers. I simply looked for a different particle quantity in the air,'

They continued through the natural carved out tunnel. Paddy led the way, his hand on fire as usual.

'So why is it in Olympia?' asked Madison.

'Probably something to do with the fact Greece has its own Olympia and the Pythian games were held in significance to the Olympic games and the explanation goes on,' said Paddy bored. 'Seriously speaking, we couldn't care less. We've had enough of long explanations with Myths,'

They continued in silence, wondering what would be next. Paddy stopped waving his hand in front of him, trying to get some light.

'What's up?'

Paddy pointed. 'Some crates up ahead. A trap?'

Peter pulled out a hilt and grew the blade. He walked up to a crate and slashed off the top. Peter withdrew the blade and motioned for them to come over.

'Fireworks. Mortals probably stored them in a basement and they were probably nicked and stored down here. Come on, lets go,' Paddy continued walking in front down the tunnel.

Paddy stopped suddenly then pushed himself to the side of the tunnel.

'Another cavern. I can sense some sort of energy coming from the other end it,'

'Any significant energy traces?' Peter asked coming up next to Paddy.

'Nothing. Just energy, they're trying to draw us in,' Peter stuck his head out, looking out the end of the tunnel.

'With good reason. Look,'

Looking through the opening, there was a chair. It was far away, but that was the chair. It stood high on its three legs, completely made out of bronze. It shone in light, torches obviously surrounded it. All they could see was a flat plain in front of them.

'Well, there's only one way to find out,' said Tom.

'You volunteering to go first?'

'No,'

'Thought as much,' Peter responded. The group chuckled. Almost dying made smaller things seem funnier. Paddy quelled his flames as they walked out into the cavern.

'How much ruddy free time did these guys have?' Pillars came one after another on the sides of the cavern. The floor was tiled with completely white marble. A white marble roof was carved out above them, held up by the pillars. At the other end, a statue stood majestically. Torches were in brackets stuck to each pillar in the temple.

'The Temple of Artemis. Well, another fake. What's this got to do with anything?' asked Paddy looking round.

_Everything_

The voice echoed through the temple. It was a sweet sickly voice you'd to hear a "Thank you very much" when the person who said it was just about to kill.

Peter drew his blades quickly. Paddy unclipped his crossbows from his belt looking around for the origin of the voice. Peter looked up towards the ceiling as the other unholstered their weapons.

'Who are you?' he shouted, his voice echoing through the temple.

_Now am I just going to tell you? Just like that?_

'I was hoping that you would,' Peter muttered. 'Let me guess, you have some sick idea that you're going to make us do so we can get the chair?' he shouted towards the ceiling again.

_No. I have no intention of giving you the chair. What gave you that idea?_

'Just a generalisation of what happens in movies,' Paddy muttered this time.

_Instead I shall have to kill you._

'Really?' Tom asked sarcastically. 'Drat. I was hoping you'd lets us go free,'

_You really are stupid aren't you?_

'No, we just have a sense of humour,' Destiny muttered.

_You will meet someone who has a close connection to the Oracle._

'Her mother?' asked Jay in turn.

_No. Python._

'Yeah whatever,' Peter asked distracted 'But what is a statue of Zeus doing in a replica of the Temple of Artemis?'

_I'll tell you if you live. Which you won't._

'Thanks for showing your confidence in us,' muttered Madison this time.

CRASH!

The ceiling fell in, rubble smashing over white marble tiles, splitting into different several different shards. Something landed heavily on top of the rubble.

'Well. He doesn't look to good,'


	22. Chapter 22 Fireworks, The Next Nuke

**So The Twenty-Second Chapter.**

**Aw, it's getting near the end slowly! Thank you all who still read this. I believe this story has evolved and shaped itself magnificently, but it's the readers that make the story.**

**And guys I want to finish this by the New Year so here's a new chapter early.**

~~~ Fireworks, The next nuke ~~~

'You're right. He don't look that good, did he take the medication wrong?'

'Paddy, this is where we stop acting like dicks,'

The thing took a step forwards, crushing rubble underneath a giant, scaled, clawed foot.

'Plan of action?' Madison squeaked out.

'I hold it off while you guys find a way to kill it,' Peter said drawing his swords as they walked backwards slowly.

'Peter, even you can't hold off an entire dragon on your own, you need one or two of the seven to distract it. You know dragons are extremely intelligent. There is no way you'll be able to hold this off on your own as it is now,' said Paddy seriously.

'I told you, find a way to kill it, I'll hold it off,' Peter looked up at the beast.

A dragon stood in front of them. To say that it was big was probably an understatement. It stood, 6 times the height of Paddy, proudly. But its scaly poison green skin wasn't complete. Bits of flesh had been completely ripped off revealing a hollow inside. No guts, no inside flesh, just the skeleton held the thing together. Pieces of skin hung off parts of the skeleton. This was not something you wanted to meet in a back alleyway.

Peter stopped.

'Father, you said that when I haven't awoken I should use my Powers responsibly and in saying that, not at all. I'm going to use them to save my friends,' Peter took a step forwards.

'Do you think this is using it responsibly?'

He took another step forwards.

'Bloody insane idiot,' Paddy said grudgingly, his breath shallow.

Peter took another step forwards. The dragon looked at him curiously. The group watched them.

'Ummm… What's he doing? Is he singing?' Madison asked as Peter took another step.

'Reciting a poem,' Paddy muttered. 'Before they went into battle, some warriors would sing a poem usually dedicated to one of the gods. Peter's probably singing it in Latin but I don't know what god or goddess it's for. Peter never really showed much respect to any god,'

'Sorta got that at the meeting with Tyche,' muttered Tom.

Peter took another step forwards his hands tightening their grip around the hilts. His chanting stopped but he kept walking. He stopped, right in front of the dragon that was looking as though it was pondering whether to deep fry him or eat him whole. He looked up at the dragon.

He roared.

The roar filled the entire temple, echoing and rebounding off the pillars and the ceiling. It died away slowly off into the other tunnels. The dragon roared in return, swiping a giant scaly claw at him. Peter stayed still, breathing slowly. The claw came within 3 inches, then, he disappeared.

What happened next would be stuck in the memory of all those there forever. Peter appeared on the dragons shoulder, two swords drawn. He slashed downwards the swords ripping out massive amounts of green scaly skin. The Dragon roared and swiped at its shoulder but Peter had disappeared again. He appeared on the dragon's back and stabbed his two swords downwards into the skin of the dragon, tearing out more skin.

It was then the group got a good look at Peter. White lines ran all across his arms and body, running up his neck, prickling around the sides and top of his face. The tendrils were even wrapped around the hilts of his swords. But the most frightening thing was his eyes. The eyes had disappeared, completely covered by blinding white. It was as though power was leaking out of his eyes.

The dragon tried to shake him off but he disappeared again. The dragon breathed fire at a corner of the temple but he might have breathed it into the air. It was like trying to squat a fly. The fly always moves just before your get it unless you're super-quick.

'And this is where we find a way to kill that thing while he holds it off,' Paddy said apprehensively while trying to sidle around the temple.

'Won't he kill it?' Jay asked eyes wide.

'Stop being an idiot. You can obviously tell from its appearance that it's un-dead. It'll keep regenerating; Peter can't keep up that power for long. Every second he spends in that form, the more damage he does to himself,'

'Then we better help him,' Tom said breathing heavily. He sheathed his sword and pulled out his small metal disc. He slid two fingers all the way along the outside of the rim of the metal disc. Suddenly the disc started expanding. The metal stretched out and suddenly, in front of them was a thin metal tube. Tom reached up to the top and popped the plastic lid off. He quickly slid out a rolled up giant piece of paper. He motioned for Paddy to start unrolling it. They both grabbed an end and pulled the paper out to its full size. It was eight times the size of an ordinary A1.

'Madison grow some vines to hold this paper up,'

'You have got to be kidding me,' Jay muttered looking at the painting.

It was a painting of a dragon. The plants pulled the picture slowly up the wall.

'Peter!' Destiny screamed. Peter flew through the air and smashed into the floor tiles sending cracks across the temple floor. Destiny sprinted over to Peter grabbing him by his shoulders. The dragon roared and breathed fire towards them.

'Destiny!' Madison bellowed, plants forgotten. Destiny clutched Peter as the fire sped towards them. It didn't hit them. Destiny looked round. They were enclosed in a golden dome. Rays of light randomly came off of the dome. Laying Peter down, Destiny looked at her hands. She'd done this. But how? Anybody's guess. She gabbed Peter's shoulders again and shook him.

'Peter,' she said. 'Get up, come on. You can't die here!' she cried into his shoulder. Something heavy slammed into the dome.

'Whatever you're doing, hurry up Tom. Destiny can't keep that up for long!' Paddy shouted. The massive painting hung from two pillars.

'I'm working as fast as I can!' Tom shouted back. He walked up to the painting and called upon his Powers. He just hoped that he had enough energy for this. It would seriously muck things up if he didn't.

'Peter wake up,' Destiny cried shaking him. The dragon slammed a claw into the shield again. Destiny's right arm gave way and her head landed on Peter's chest.

'What's happening to Destiny?' Madison asked Paddy as they dodged a falling pillar.

'The dome draws on her energy. Every time the dome gets hit or takes damage, Destiny loses some of her energy keeping it there. She'll find it hard to keep herself awake at this rate,' said Paddy as he stumbled over rubble.

Backup arrived, in the form of Tom fainting.

'Well, he didn't last long,' Paddy muttered picking up Tom's unconscious form and putting him out of the way so he wouldn't be hurt.

_For a good cause though_

Paddy froze. Madison looked at Paddy then over his shoulder and also froze. Jay came from dodging the pillar and froze as he jumped. The landing didn't turn out to well. Paddy turned around slowly.

'Oh geez, you're not going to fight us are you?' complained Paddy. The Dragon was double Paddy's height and a black so dark it made the night sky look slightly lighter. It eyes glowed a bright white though, the knowledge of eons stored inside them.

_No. I fight for you_

'A piece of good luck at last,' said Paddy under his breath. 'Well what you are doing? Fight!'

If it was possible, the dragon looked affronted but turned and charged towards Python. The dragon was still only a third the size of Python yet it launched itself at its long neck. The smaller black dragon clamped it fangs into Python who roared at it and swung wildly, smashing another claw into the dome. The dome shimmered then disappeared.

'Come on Peter,' Jay muttered looking over at them.

Destiny legs had given way and so had her left arm. She was spread out partially covering Peter, her golden hair all over the place.

'Peter,' she whispered. Darkness was slowly closing in around what she could see; everything seemed to be going in slow-motion.

'Please. Wake up,'

Everything turned black.

Python roared, noticing the dome had disappeared. It raised a claw to step on them.

Peter opened his eyes.

The dragon's claw slammed down, shattering marble tiles. It lifted its claw and roared looking for the bodies.

A sword flew through the air and smashed into Python's eye. Python roared again and looked for the assailant, completely unaware of the small black dragon that still hung onto its neck.

Peter stood, Destiny's limp body over one shoulder, next to one of the pillars. He laid Destiny down gently against the pillar then turned back to Python, his white eye sockets staring at him with no emotion. He disappeared.

'Let's go grab Destiny,' Jay shouted over the new amount of destruction as Peter charged forwards again.

'No! Destiny's fine. We have to work on a way to kill it,' Paddy shouted over the crashing of another pillar.

'What kills something that regenerates?' Madison asked climbing over the rubble to Jay and Paddy.

'Fire, but my fire shots are too small, you need something like–,' it was as if a light bulb appeared above all of their heads and they were all hooked together. Then someone had hit the light switch without thinking about the cost of electricity.

The group ran towards the way they came in. Paddy instantly set both of his hands on fire and ran through the tunnel, the other two struggling to keep up.

'Here,' he defused a hand and picked up the crate with it. Jay and Madison both picked up a crate turned around and sprinted back down the tunnel.

They reached the temple and chucked their crates onto the marble tiles. Jay pulled out a dagger and slashed the top of them while Madison and Paddy slammed the fireworks into the ground. They angled them forwards.

'This gonna work?' asked Jay doubtingly.

'What? Killing a zombie Python with fireworks? Why not?' said Paddy rolling his eyes. He reached down and brushed his fingers at the ends of the fireworks. He then picked up two fireworks and set them off in his hands aiming them straight at Python.

The rockets shot forwards with a blast of hot air as the ends burnt up. The small black dragon spotted the fireworks and jumped to the side. Peter landed on Python's back and swung both blades in an X formation at its neck.

Python's long neck and head flailed in the air as rockets hit.

The explosion shook the temple. Green and red sparks flew outwards from the explosion; rubble was sprayed outwards while bits of Python's un-dead body flew around, on fire.

'Fireworks, The next nuke,' said Jay unbelievingly.

'In an enclosed space, the combined explosions of fireworks provide enough power to do some damage,' Paddy looked around the temple. Quite a few of the pillars now lay on the floor in several different pieces leaving enough pillars to still hold up the roof though.

A blur came down and landed heavily, cracking what little of the un-cracked marbles were left under its feet. Peter stood up. The tendrils flowing around his body faded slowly. He fell forwards face first onto the marble tiles. Paddy ran forwards and flipped him over. He quickly put an ear to his chest and grabbed his wrist. He placed his wrist onto his chest with a sigh.

'Still alive, thank god for that. Go grab the chair Jay, then we can get outta here,' said Paddy as he got up. He walked over to Tom and pulled him up, hanging his arm over one shoulder while grabbing him by his waist.

The small black dragon walked up to him and Paddy flung Tom onto its back.

'Male or Female?'

_Female_

'But with a male personality I'll bet,' said Paddy as he turned away. He walked over to Destiny, picked her up and placed her onto the dragon's back.

'How about Keres?'

_Angel of Death? It'll do_

'Actually it's Spirit of Death but it can be translated as Angel,' said Paddy as they walked over to Peter. 'Ah, Jay. Nice one,'

Jay carried the chair over and laid it down gently.

'What'll happen to Peter?' he asked looking at the lifeless body on the floor.

'He'll probably sleep for a day,' Paddy picked him up and placed him on the dragon's back. 'Lead on oh mighty good-for-nothing Keres,'

If it was possible, Keres grinned. The smaller black dragon turned and started walking towards the back of the temple. Jay picked up the chair again and the group jogged to keep up.

'Why are we following a dragon?'

'Dragons have much higher detecting senses,'

'So?'

'Geez did you ever watch Lord of the Rings? Always follow your nose,'

* * *

><p>The next couple of hours flew by. Keres went through series after series of tunnels eventually leading them into a sewer. The caves they came back through were now slightly bigger to encompass the dragon. The group also hoped that the mortal would never find out why there was a massive hole in the road where the manhole was, and the massive footprints, and quite a lot of things actually.<p>

Paddy said he would get transport, despite the fact Keres was just big enough for them all to fit on. Paddy pulled some sort of device off his belt, pressed a few buttons then told them to wait for half an hour on the side of a small hill next to the motorway.

Dead on the half an hour point, a Bronze gryphon dropped out of the clouds accompanied by a Phoenix, the same Phoenix. The gryphon landed in front of them and several demigods simply fell off it as they laughed at Paddy's ripped Bermuda shorts. To be fair, the entire groups clothing was either ripped torn or shredded but at least it was still in one piece, just about. Paddy walked over to them and had a quick conversation most of which was him threatening them to which they claimed they were unafraid. Paddy then said something and motioned to Peter to which they all chuckled but seemed to swear a promise. He then gave them all a punishment which surprised them. Then they all started to argue but then Paddy held up a hand, said something, and then they handed him an envelope and jumped onto the gryphon, which flew away hurriedly.

Paddy smirked as he came up the hill, waving an envelope.

'Plane tickets. We'll do this the proper questing way and get their on our own,'

'Who was that?' asked Madison as they walked

'Nature's Call. Isaiah's team,' he cast a sidelong look at them 'One of the Seven,'

'What was with the arguing with them?' Jay asked walking around Keres to talk to him.

'It's sorta traditional. All of the Seven argue with other teams, besides I told them to do something and if they don't do it, not just me, every member of the Seven will make their lives a living hell,'

'What was it you told them to do?'

'Told them to get the guild ready for the coming of our, at the minute sleeping, leader,'

They arrived at the airport quite quickly. Paddy handed over the tickets, clicked his fingers a few times in front of various people and then they were on the plane.

Only someone was on there with them.

**And the name of the Phoenix according to the poll shall be:**

**Paramonos**

**And guys once again, I even bring out a chapter on Christmas and I get no reviews! I'm trying to finish this by the new year so I'll update as soon as I can, hopefully once every two days. But please guys? A few review please.**


	23. Chapter 23 The Final Chapter

**So the Twenty-Third Chapter. The Chapter name in the drop down bar is in initials as it wouldn't allow me the entire title of the chapter.**

**The final chapter guys. This Chapter is (At least i think it is) EPIC**

**Everyone who still reads this, I want you to review every chapter you haven't.**

~~~ Some Explanations, Wings and A Fight ~~~

The plane flew onwards, the only sound coming from the engines. The group sat at the very front of the plane, relaxing in the seats.

'Where did your guild get 1st class tickets from?'

Paddy smiled. 'We have a daughter of Dolos; she can trick nearly anyone into giving her stuff. Tricking mortals is child's play,'

Tom yawned and stretched outwards. He pushed himself up from slouching in his chair and looked around blearily.

'What… what… What time is it?' He rubbed his eyes and yawned again.

'4 o'clock in the afternoon on the 4th day Tom,' said Paddy leaning forwards to look across to him.

'Where are we?'

'On a plane, going back to camp,' said Jay across the middle lane from him. Tom looked around. Peter sat next to him, a blanket laid over his sleeping form making only his head and shoulders visible. Cut scabs were splattered around his face and the cuts had gone through his t-shirt splitting it open. Destiny sat to Peter's right, curled up into a ball. Her long golden hair covered most of her face. She looked rather like a cat sleeping.

'We figured we'd put all sleeping on one side and all awake on the other,' said Madison smiling.

'How's Peter?' Tom asked sitting up properly.

'Not good,' Paddy rubbed his chin worriedly. 'We've no way of knowing what his injuries are. I think he has a couple of broken ribs but other than that I can't tell,'

A waitress walked up to them.

'Excuse me. I was walking past and I couldn't help over hearing but I believe your friend has three broken ribs and a torn ligament,'

Paddy crossed his arms and looked up at the waitress. 'And which goddess are you?'

The waitress half-pouted half-smiled. 'You're no fun you know that? Okay, I'll change. Avert your eyes,'

A golden flash of light later and a beautiful woman stood in front of them. She had long brown chestnut hair that fell next to her waist. She wore glittering long white evening dress which ended up covering her feet. Her luminescent green eyes smiled at them. She looked like a model that'd turned up to an evening dinner. Her cherry red lips smiled at them. Destiny's eyes fluttered open.

'Greeting demigods,' she said spreading her arms.

'Unseen,' Paddy put in. She waved a hand at him in the universal language of 'forget it'.

'I am Psyche,' The Phoenix poked its head out from under Peter's seat and cawed at her.

'Paramonos!' She reached down and stroked the birds head. 'You were looking after these guys?'

'You know this Phoenix?' asked Paddy leaning forwards.

'The bird's 500 years old. I think I should know him,' Psyche said bringing herself up again.

'Ummm… not trying to be rude or anything, but what are you the goddess of?' asked Madison timidly.

'The Soul. And don't worry about being rude. It's a thankless job, but you get used to it,' she clapped her hands together and a small black cushion chair appeared behind her. What did this goddess want with them?

'What have you got to do with us?' asked Jay.

'With you? Nothing in particular. However I do have something to do with Peter,'

'Like?'

Psyche smiled. 'I'm here to tell you the truth about Peter. The whole truth,'

Something heavy landed on top of the plane. Yells were heard from the cockpit as the mortal drivers tried to gain control of the plane. Psyche sighed then clicked her fingers. The plane levelled out and the mortal yells of terror turned into muttering of confusion.

'You really should look after your dragon better,' Psyche looked over at one of windows. Keres was trying to look in through one of the windows. Psyche turned back to the group.

'Let's start with the basics. Do you know who Peter's father is?'

'No,' said the group collectively.

Psyche smiled sadly. 'I know who he is, although I have never met him. Let's start with one of the biggest things in the year

'The Summer solstice. Every year, this is when the gods Power is the greatest. One in every 10 years on that day, the wind gods combine becoming one entity. But there is also one other who binds with them. A Protogenoi.

'He is the Protogenoi of air. He is neither good, nor evil. He was born from Chaos when this world was first formed. But nobody knows his name. He is air; he is what we are breathing now. He is not Aether, who gods breathe in. He is mentioned once as the soul of the world that life emanates from. Every living thing on this planet is alive because of him, yet nobody worships him or thanks him. He cannot make himself known because he is to spread out around the world; he has no, one conscience. He has no one name, but he is always there.

'But every ten years, the winds combine into him and he can live. For a day. He can be an ordinary entity for a whole day. He was feared by the gods that he would overthrow them, he was powerful enough. But he knew better. He just wanted live a life, one that he could enjoy. At first, this was seen as good news for the gods. Air walked around trying to learn and live. But soon the gods started to fear. What if he had a child? The gods asked him to stop, yet he ignored them. He didn't fall in love though. It had to be someone unique who could fall in love with someone so, unpredictable. But finally though, he fell in love and in the night of that day, conceived a child. That child is the only one sleeping here at the minute,'

The group turned to look at Peter. So many personalities smashed into one person they just ended up destroying each other from the looks of it.

'And what have you got to do with Peter?' asked Paddy

'His very soul. He understands. In the temple, I was the one Peter made the prayer to. Inside him, Peter holds parts of 6 significant people's souls. His mother's, Air's and the 4 Winds'. Usually when a baby is born parts of the mother and father's souls are combined inside the child. Inside Peter however, 6 halves of souls struggle to combine. The gods saw Peter as an experiment, but now they have no choice but to see him as an actual demigod, despite the fact he is dangerous. His Powers are unstable because of his unstable souls. If he uses them too much, his own souls will destroy his body,'

'Woah! Wait up a sec. Peter talked like he'd seen his own father. How has he seen his father, if even you haven't seen him?' asked Madison holding up her hands.

'Air doesn't just talk to anyone, but Peter's his son. He probably came to apologize. It's hard to understand Air, just as it's hard to understand Peter. But I think I can just about understand Peter,'

'Why'd you think that?'

Psyche smiled sadly. 'I am the goddess of the soul. He has split souls. I am the only one who can understand that. And we're also both hated by some gods,'

'You're hated by other gods?'

'Of course. I wasn't born a god, I was mortal. My lover, Eros, accidently made himself fall in love with me when he was on an errand from Aphrodite who was jealous of me. Certainly shows that love, plus alcohol, can certainly make you blind. But yes, that is the reason why Peter is my chosen,'

'Chosen?' asked Tom interested.

'A person who is dedicated to a god or a person that a god has chosen to be their champion. In literal terms,' reeled off Paddy, leaning on the arm rest.

'Indeed. Peter choses his friends well,' Psyche stood up slowly.

'I will be there, when his soul becomes one,' she said smiling. She faded slowly, her presence disappeared and everything returned to normal. The group looked around. She'd done something without them noticing. She'd sort of… closed them off for a bit. They looked around. The Bronze three legged chair was still in the corner, Paramonos sat in Peter's lap on top of the blanket and Keres still sat on top of the plane.

'How many hours we have left till we land?' yawned Tom.

'4,'

'You know I'm moderately impressed. You know a god that isn't pissed off at you,'

* * *

><p>The sun started to set. The plane started flying lower than the clouds and cities stood out, little prickles of lights scattered over the land. Most of the group we're looking out of the windows of the airplane while Peter slept on. Paddy grumbled occasionally. At the fifth one Madison turned around and asked. His brow furrowed when she asked.<p>

'What was it that raised Python and Karkinos? Who had the power to do that, I mean Karkinos is a constellation. That's gonna require a bit of power,'

'Hey, we got the chair back and so long as they're not draining power from it it's all good right?'

'I suppose,'

'Supposing is not enough dear,'

The shadows stretched suddenly. The light in plane dimmed, the shadows becoming blacker. The enclosed cabin of the plane all of a sudden felt like somewhere with no escape. Shadows bend towards the middle lane, liquidising and forming a small pool. A woman covered completely in green shawls rose rotating slowly out of it. The shadow pool underneath her feet disappeared but the darkness inside the plane stay where it was. The group's weapons instantaneously appeared in their hands and they were pointing at the woman while the group was out of their chairs.

'Such a warm welcome,' the woman drawled out.

'And you are?'

'Asteria dear, and I think that will answer all of your questions'

'No. It won't'

Peter sat in his chair fully alert. His eyes filled with seriousness.

'Peter you alright?' asked Paddy.

'Yeah, I think Psyche told Apollo that we got the chair and he owed me one. He owes me quite a few now, but he's paid for one by healing me,' his head turned back to Asteria.

'So it was all you. Titan goddess of astrology, Prophetic dreams and necromancy. That's why Karkinos was so huge and why he was alive. Python, resurrected from the dead by your magic alone, then draining the magic of the chair so you can increase your own prophecy powers,' Peter paused 'There is just one question though,'

'And that is dear?'

'Who do you work for?'

Asteria drew herself up proudly. 'I work for the Mother,'

Peter frowned. 'You mean my aunt?'

Asteria looked at him, shocked. 'She's your aunt?'

'Yeah,' Peter cracked his knuckles and made a move to get up but Paddy held a hand in front of him.

'Save your energy. You're gonna need it. I'll face her, one on one,'

Peter grinned. 'Alright. She's the same generation as a minor god; I'll let you have this one,'

Paddy grinned back and motioned for the group to move out of the way. The group stepped back, reluctantly lowering their weapons. Paddy un-holstered an extra, single barrelled, crossbow from his belt and set his stance opposite the woman.

'Nice choice of tactics,' muttered Peter watching the duellers. The group looked around. They were at the front of plane, in the first-class section, on their own, with just the gap between the front seats and the aisles to move around in. Paddy was using a long range weapon. How could this possibly be a good tactic?

'Shall we start or do you just want me to blow you head off?' asked Paddy in a reasonable voice.

'Start,'

Black lightning shot forth at Paddy's head. Paddy leant to the side slightly and the lightning smashed into the side of the plane creating a small debris cloud and a hole into the plane.

'Sheesh, don't you like to warm up first?' Paddy raised his single shot crossbow and shot directly at Asteria's head. Asteria liquefied into shadow and the bolt flew into the cockpit smashing into the controls of the plane. The plane gave a sudden jerk upwards and the mortal cries of surprise were enough to know that things were bad. Asteria materialized behind him and slashed, tendrils of darkness of darkness coming out, whipping across the inside of the plane splitting chairs in two. Paddy rolled underneath the black whips and fired his double shots at he rolled. The group ducked and Peter span out of his chair, holding onto Paramonos. Asteria dived to the side as two crossbow bolts soared past, nicking her shawl and smashing into the plastic windows.

The engines suddenly started powering down. The whirring suddenly slowed down. Warning sounds came from the cockpit while the diver started yelling.

'How long will you need Peter?' shouted Paddy coming up from his roll.

'35,000 foot high. Weigh of plane about 2100 pounds it'll take me 3 minutes to right the plane if we drop at a 90° in my form now. Unless you want me to become unstable?' said Peter sliding to a stop. Paramonos fluttered to his shoulder.

'I rather you didn't. So how long have I got?'

'3 minutes'

'Plenty of time,' said Paddy savouring it.

Asteria stood up quickly and fired a beam of darkness at Paddy. Paddy jumped to one side, silently counting to himself.

'Fool! You cannot reload a with no hands fre–' A bolt shattered the plastic overhead box next to her head. Paddy grinned catching a crossbow out of the air.

'Usually a crossbow takes 5 seconds to reload. Paddy can do his double shot in 1. All he has to do is throw a crossbow up into the air and reload the other one. However that will become irrelevant in a couple of seconds,' said Peter, smiling. The group looked at him. He put up three fingers. Oh gods, not this again. Two. One. The engines died.

The plane dropped like… well, a twenty-one hundred pound plane dropping out of the air. Gravity became regardless as they all flew into the air, floating weightless. Destiny and Madison's hair went out of control as they dropped.

'Now the real fight begins,' laughed Paddy. He opened the clip of a small pouch on his belt. Dozens of crossbow bolt that could not have possibly fitted in there flew out.

'Reloading takes a long time eh?' Paddy landed on the front wall of the cabin as Asteria stood on the back of a seat. 'Says who?'

Paddy leapt up and fired.

Asteria whipped her shadow whips from her fingers again but Paddy pushed off the overhead cabinets (Please remember that everything has been turn about 70° downwards) Paddy swung his arm around, crossbow bolts slotting into the crossbow shaft. Paddy fired again the bolts from the double shot crossbow catching on fire. Asteria hissed as she dodged out of the way. She turned. Paddy stood in front of her he fired all of his shots.

Asteria screamed. The shots pieced both her wrists and one thigh. Despite the weightlessness, Asteria fell to the cabin's front wall. Golden Ichor flowed out of her wounds. Paddy landed next to her and grabbed her shawl, pulling her up. He clipped his crossbows back on his belt and grabbed Asteria's neck with his right hand.

'Please… Forgive..' she croaked out.

'No,'

Instantly she was alight. Her robes burnt a black smoke and the smell of a barbeque flew through the air. Paddy threw her down but soon, on the floor, only a pile of flaming rags remained.

'Teleported,' Paddy muttered. 'You sense where she went Peter?'

'Yeah, I got a click on her location. I trust when we get back you can sort out a group for a Reconnaissance?'

Paddy nodded. 'I'm sure you'll want to get back the training stocks,'

The group stood dumb-founded watching them. Peter looked around and raised an eyebrow.

'What?'

'Couldn't you have just let her go?'

'No,' Peter shook his head. 'Heroes are stupid. Even if you let a person go, they end up with even more of an ambition to kill you. Only if you have a silver-tongue can actually convince people to change,'

'Silver tongue?' asked Madison.

'Expression,'

Peter sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes. The plane levelled out significantly and continued to level out slowly.

'I thought you said it would take a while to level it out?' asked Paddy as he threw himself into the chair.

'I forgot about Keres until now. We'll land in about 10 minutes,'

'The chair still okay?' asked Tom.

'Yep,'

'Good. Let's go home,'

* * *

><p>'Are you sure it was at a safe enough speed when you let it go?'<p>

_Pretty sure. Why?_

'Because the McDonalds it crashed into disagrees,'

_They shouldn't have made it so big then._

'I agree with that,'

The group walked over the hill at 11 o'clock. Torches filled the campsite giving the place an eerie glow. The campfire still burned low in the centre of all the tables.

Chiron was waiting for them next to Thalia's tree. He smiled warmly when they came close.

'I trust the mission was a success then?'

'Of course,' said Tom grinning.

Chiron smiled even more but then looked confused. 'And you seemed to have picked up a few companions on the way?'

Peter, Paddy, Keres and Paramonos stood apart from the group. Peter stood slightly in front with Paddy beside his right shoulder. Paramonos had perched himself on Peter's left shoulder. Keres stood behind all of them, easily the tallest, only just visible in the darkness. What was with them?

'Is it alright if we stay here a bit longer?' asked Peter, grinning.

'Sure. Of course we'll find a hiding place for two Demigods, a dragon and a Phoenix,' Chiron said sarcastically.

The Unseen group grinned. Just as usual.

* * *

><p>They'd made the attic a cosy place. Peter lay dozing on the top of all of the boxes they'd stacked like tiers of seating at one end of the attic. Paramonos sat on his stomach, occasionally cawing angrily at him. Paddy sat at the bottom of the tiers swishing around the remnants of the liquid at the bottom. Madison stretched out.<p>

'Nothing like a good night's sleep,' she said sitting down one of the boxes.

'What's up with Paramonos?' asked Destiny coming up the ladder.

'He's angry at Peter because he won't let him out,' replied Paddy drinking the last of the bottle.

'How's Keres?' asked Tom looking out the window.

'Fitting in well with Peleus,'

Keres lay, sleeping, beside Peleus next to Thalia's tree.

'Are you really as strong as a Titaness?'

'A minor Titaness. And only in fighting,'

'And their seven of you like that,'

'And?'

'Nothing,'

Peter slept on, snoring lightly.

'So how long do guys plan on staying?' asked Jay idly looking inside one of the boxes. He pulled out a bent sword then threw it back into the box.

'That all depends on Peter. Today's the fifth day so the quest officially ends today but it's up to Peter when we move,'

'Why?'

Paddy shrugged. 'You don't challenge the leader if he has a reason,'

* * *

><p>Paramonos cawed loudly and pushed off Peter's shoulder.<p>

'Is it alright to let him off when they're singing at the campfire?' asked Paddy lying down on Zeus's fist.

Peter shrugged. 'Seeing a Phoenix in flight is sometimes seen as a sign of good luck,'

'Is it?'

'How would I know?'

Paddy sighed. 'You sure it's alright to do it out here?'

'I'd rather they didn't see all of the flesh and blood. They haven't lived through enough to be prepared for this. Though I'm glad you worked it out so quickly,'

'You do sort of pick up on this sort of thing when you've been living with it for most of your life,' reasoned Paddy.

'True, true,' sighed Peter.

They sat, or in Paddy's case, lay on Zeus's Fist. Birds chirped quietly in the distance. Squirrels ran across trees, hoping that they wouldn't get eaten by other things in the forest. Time passed silently.

'It's starting,' said Peter standing up. Paddy sat up and pushed himself off Zeus's Fist.

A roar shattered the silence. A roar of pain. Blood splattered outwards as Peter's back ripped itself open. Small pieces of flesh disgorged themselves from the open wound. The roar of pain sounded again. Peter's back ripped itself open again, just across from the previous rip. Blood flowed outwards, raining down on Zeus's fist. Peter fell to his knees, then fell onto his face, on top of Zeus's fist.

'Desecrate an important site which was dedicated to the king of the gods with your blood. What will you do next?' asked Paddy climbing back up on top of Zeus's fist. He looked down at Peter.

Down Peters back were two rips, one on the left, the other on the right. But biggest difference was what came out of those rips.

Two Wings. Each one at least 8 foot in length. They would be pure white if blood didn't cover them. It was like looking at the back of an angel.

'Thank god they don't go near this place for another 4 days,' Paddy muttered looking around at the blood splatter rocks. He reached down and slung Peter onto his back. He sagged under the new weight.

'Geez, cut down on the carbs man. Those wings weigh a ton,' wheezed Paddy. He walked slowly back to the Big House.

'Look after yourself Peter,' Whispered Psyche from the shadows.

* * *

><p>'He lives,'<p>

'Are you surprised?'

'A little, yes,'

'So what do we do now?'

'Kill him?'

'That would provoke a war. Besides, I don't think he'll go down that easily,'

'Then we will continue to watch and wait. He doesn't oppose us. In fact, even though we do not like to admit it, his guild has helped out every one of us,'

'So we will continue to watch him. So long as he doesn't oppose us, he lives?'

'We can't exactly decide his fate. If he chose to oppose us it would be hard to track him, and kill him,'

'And entire guild,'

'He has taught them all well. If they wanted to move they could be prepared in an hour. And he could certainly buy them enough time for that. He is no longer a normal demigod,'

'He truly is Air's son. Neither good nor evil. His only wish is for this world to live in peace,'

'Then soon he will have to fight for this wish to remain true,'

* * *

><p>'Why aren't we allowed in?' Madison shouted at Chiron.<p>

'Young lady. First of all, he needs sleep so shouting your head off will cause him more pain. Second of all. He is lying sleeping and wounded and does not need visitors. Third of all, I do not believe you are ready to see a blood splattered body, especially one which is your friend,' Chiron looked down at her and folded his arms.

'So why was Paddy let in?' she hissed angrily.

'He is a healer and a very close friend who has been beside him in countless battles. Are you a healer and how long have you known Peter?'

'No and 7 days,'

'Precisely,'

'Right nutters aren't they?' the door creaked open. Paddy leant in the frame of the door. 'You can come in but he's sleeping now,'

The group quickly pushed Chiron and struggled to get through the door at the same time. Chiron tried to look angry at Paddy but he gave him a sheepish grin and they walked inside.

'Does this make him an angel?'

'Do you see a halo above his head?'

'This is just bandaged. Paddy haven't you healed him using your Powers?'

Paddy smiled. 'You can't. Not on this type of wound. It's counted as growth so you have to allow it to heal naturally otherwise it'll grow irregularly and that could cause some serious problems in the future,'

'You okay Destiny?' Chiron whispered next to her ear.

'Yeah. Sort of. Just… wondering if this'll change him,'

Chiron grinned. 'I doubt that highly,' he turned to Paddy. 'How long till you leave?'

'Depends on Peter once again. As soon as he says. He's got a guild to look after though so as soon as he wakes up we'll be moving,'

'You're not staying?' asked Destiny, shocked.

Paddy raised an eyebrow. 'No. We've got loads of work to do. And besides, how could you expect us to stay here? We don't belong here,'

'I just…-'

'You didn't expect us to leave so soon. Many people feel the same way when we help them. Hey, we might see you again someday,'

Destiny looked over to the sleeping form that was Peter. She sighed, then smiled and joined the others in talking.

Paddy and Chiron looked at each other then tried to hide their knowing smirks.

* * *

><p>Destiny slid up next to the door silently. She'd tiptoed through the entire camp, in the dark, at around 11 o'clock. An owl hooted softly nearby. The moon glittered down on the lake while the stars shone down brightly, providing a small amount of light. She steadied her breathing and listened. Everything was silent, the door creaked open.<p>

A blur rushed out and the next thing, she was on the floor with a knife next to her neck.

'Destiny,' sighed Peter, relieved. He stood back up and offered her a hand up. She accepted it gratefully. He looked magnificent in this light. His wings a pure white, stained by the darkness, allowing certain parts to be highlighted. He still wore his bronze gauntlet on his right arm and his grapple claw on his left. He ran a hand through his already messy hair, and stood there, with his usual glint behind his eye, in the darkness. A true hunter.

'Why're you out here?' he asked throwing the knife with precision back through the door.

'Shouldn't I be asking you that? Before you sneak off?' she asked crossing her arms.

'Me and Paddy aren't ones for tearful goodbyes,' Peter said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. 'That's why I told him to go ahead,'

'Then can I give you something before you leave?'

'What's that?'

'This,' she hugged him quickly so he didn't have time to back off. Peter winced from the pain, but, then, cautiously put his arms around and hugged back. He drew his new wings around, encasing them in a circle of white feathers. Peter let go slowly, his wings uncurling. Destiny slowly let go then watched him. He looked thoughtful.

'You know, if anyone at my guild had tried that I would have already thrown them out of the window,'

Destiny grinned. 'Go on, you've got a guild to go to,'

'Wow, now you want to get rid of me,'

'Peter, Ammon Kringos, Leader of the Unseen, master of Paramonos and Keres and all creatures of the air, Son, of the Air itself. If you do not get moving, I will kick your ass,' said Destiny folding her arms with a grin.

Peter laughed. The first one she'd heard Destiny just realised. He winked and tapped two fingers over his left chest.

'See ya soon,'

He pushed off the ground and with a flap of his wings, was already into the sky. Another flap and he disappeared into the sky

* * *

><p>'I wished you'd arrive earlier,'<p>

'I arrived two days ago, are you still saying that that isn't enough time?'

'To call in every team? That's nothing. Nothing is ready for Peter,'

'Oh come on. He's so laid back that hardly matters. He said he'd be arriving today, and from the looks of it, we've only got to wait another 5 minutes,'

Paddy sat round a table with other Members of the Seven. Isaiah sat next to him flicking his blonde hair out of his eyes. The bottom floor was easily big enough to fit 9 elephants and was made up of round table and stools. The stairs were located at the top right of the room while the bar and its stools took up the bottom right. A stage was sandwiched between the stairs and bar. People were at every table, even crowding on the stairs looking over the banisters as all the seats had been taken up. Mugs of coffee, tea and other beverages, including some slightly alcoholic, were on the tables or in hands, all in the same style glass.

'You know Alicia isn't back yet?'

'She probably hasn't even got the letter yet. Calm down,'

'Even so, you expect all of us to be here,'

Paddy turned to his right. 'Jim can you tell him to stop it because I seem to be an inanimate object to him,'

'Oh my god! An inanimate object talked!' cried Jim. 'Joking Paddy. Isaiah calm down, he's not going to complain you know that,'

'Still…'

The clock clicked 10 o'clock. The melodious guitar power chord blasted through the bar signalling that the timer had ended. It was one awesome clock. The bottom floor went quiet. Even the barman stopped rubbing glasses. Someone apparently fell over at the back.

'What's going on?' a sleepy voice asked a demigod on the stairs.

'Geez… shut up,' muttered the demigod angrily, keeping his eyes focused on the double doors. 'Peter's coming,'

'Oh. Where iz he then?' the voice slurred out.

The Seven's table burst out laughing.

'Can't any of you tell?' Makarov laughed out slamming his fist on the table. The entire guild turned around. Peter sat on the banister, grinning.

'Come on. You really think I'd use the front door?' he leapt down, landing lightly between the tables. He threw a letter at the Seven's table. Kecks caught it quickly and quietly grinning, opened it.

'A letter from Alicia. I picked up our post before I came,' said Peter walking up to the bar. He grabbed a stool and sat on it, allowing his wings to relax and fall to his sides. 'It's in code. Work it out Kecks,'

Kecks's eyes flew across the paper. In less than 15 seconds, he folded up the paper and put it back in its envelope. He turned round in his seat and looked at the guild members.

'Snow speaks softly, making Thunder paranoid. Marriage takes a gamble, with Jackson and male Grace,'

He closed his eyes, sighed then opened them again.

'The earth trembles,'

**The Unseen shall come forth.**

**And I own this story. Anybody who copies it or reposts it I can sue you. So there.**


	24. Mini Update

Yo, guys and girls. Just a heads up on my next story, I'm writing the plot line at the minute whilst trying to use myths and legends Rick Riordan hasn't used. Hopefully the first chapter will be up in two months' time (There or roundabout) and I hope you guys and girls like it as I try and make the stories awesome.

And as i like to give my readers something back, I have a poll for you to see what you want.


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